Category Archives: Starting over

Make ’em Care

I watched Lonesome Dove this weekend, half on Saturday and half on Sunday. I needed something epic and grand and filled with great scenery, strong emotions, and memorable characters. I needed something like this because, frankly, all I wanted to … Continue reading

Posted in creativity, Day by day, Decisions, Exploration, failure, fiction, Publishing, Reading, Starting a new work, Starting over, The Muse, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Weaving a Blue Horse

This weekend I tried to weave an image of a horse on my small lap loom. It had been a long time since I’d tried to shape a horse with yarn across tightly stretched warp, and it wasn’t coming easily. … Continue reading

Posted in creativity, Day by day, Decisions, Drafts, emotion, Energy, Exploration, failure, Gratitude, Materials, Miracles, Revision, Starting over, Story, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

On Becoming a Writer

Once I’d made my mind up to it, becoming a writer was fairly simple. I committed myself to it. I studied it. I read a lot of books. I attended a lot of readings. I attended as many workshops as … Continue reading

Posted in comfort, Comparison, Competition, Completing a novel, creativity, Day by day, Decisions, editors, emotion, failure, fiction, marketing, Play, privacy, Publishing, Self-worth, Starting a new work, Starting over, success, The market, Uncategorized, what artists need, Writing career | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Market

People often ask me how to read the market. What should they do? What’s the next new trend? How did I know to write what I wrote when I wrote it? Look at me, I want to say. Do I … Continue reading

Posted in creativity, Decisions, economics, emotion, Energy, failure, fiction, History, marketing, Passion, posterity, Process, Starting a new work, Starting over, success, The market, Uncategorized, Visibilty, what artists need | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Letting the Work Breathe

As soon as the contract for Persimmon Wilson was signed I started work on another novel. I knew I had just a slim window of time before the revision edits for Persy arrived in my inbox, and that once that … Continue reading

Posted in Completing a novel, creativity, Day by day, Decisions, Drafts, emotion, Energy, Exploration, fiction, Journaling, Magic, Play, Process, Publishing, Reading, research, spaciousness, Starting a new work, Starting over, Story, Uncategorized, vacation, what artists need | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I Quit

I quit. I quit on average about three times a month. Sometimes I stay quit for months. Sometimes I stay quit for only hours. Sometimes I quit a particular project and sometimes I quit the whole gig. The last time … Continue reading

Posted in creativity, Day by day, Decisions, emotion, Energy, Exploration, fiction, Process, silence, Starting over, Story, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Failure

Dear Abby and Karen, Today for some reason, I am thinking about failure. The failure of a book to sell well. The failure of a book to be published. The failure to complete a book. The failure to even write … Continue reading

Posted in Completing a novel, creativity, Drafts, economics, failure, fiction, fun with what we do, positivity; grace; light, Starting a new work, Starting over, success, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

McWriting and Burning Journals

Dear Karen – I am thinking about the word fearlessness. You used it to describe the potter who smashed all his work, the painter slashing his canvas, the writer burning his work. Me, maybe, for my decision to start over. … Continue reading

Posted in creativity, Day by day, Drafts, Journaling, Play, posterity, Process, Starting over, The Muse, The Writer's Life, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Spear Fishing

Dear Karen, Good lord, yes! The modern world is an anxious place. Every person I know swims in this sea, and as you say about art, art is anxiety in and of itself. I wish this were not so. Or … Continue reading

Posted in comfort, Completing a novel, creativity, Day by day, Decisions, Drafts, Energy, fiction, fun with what we do, happiness, Maintenance, Play, Process, Revision, Starting over, Story, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment