The short book, Negotiating with the Dead, is a collection of six lectures Margaret Atwood gave on writing. This is not a typical writing handbook, dispensing now-cliched advice like "write what you know" and "show, don't tell." Rather, Atwood tackles the question of what does it mean to "be a writer?" What is the writer, anyway, and … Continue reading Negotiating with the dead: Margaret Atwood on what it means to be a writer
Here's a roundup of great writing found on the Internet in recent days... If you are squee-ing over the return of The X-Files like I am: The Nostalgic Science Fiction of The X-Files (Joshua Rothman @ The New Yorker) This Is the Hollowed-Out World that Outrage Culture Has Created (Ryan Holiday @ Observer) How to Raise a Creative Child. Step … Continue reading Great writing for weekend reading…
Adam Grant explains why putting things off may lead to more creative work (as long as you don't leave it till the last minute).
Qwiklit has a 100-day writing challenge going on, 100 prompts for short pieces hidden until you click to help clear out the cobwebs and get you started writing. I'm giving it a go. Here's my short piece for day 2, "Zombie Invasion." Prompt: At this moment, the area you’re in is suddenly ravaged by zombies. With … Continue reading 100-day writing challenge + zombie invasion…
You may think Men Explain Things to Me, Rebecca Solnit's short collection of essays (including the one that helped spawn the term "man-splaining"), is necessary reading for women, and you'd be right. But it's also a great read for all creative types. When I first started reading these essays, I felt angry. That's okay; I'm used … Continue reading Recommended Reading: Men Explain Things to Me
It really bothers me when people say they aren’t creative. Everyone is, in some fashion. I am just as guilty every time I say I am tone deaf or that I have two left feet and that no one could ever possibly teach me how to sing or dance. I wish, more than anything, that … Continue reading Everyone is creative…
Like the advice in pretty much all writing books, Natalie Goldberg's advice in Writing Down the Bones boils down to the same core principles: write every day; don’t edit while you write; use detail; don’t worry about being perfect. Goldberg offers some useful tips for keeping a daily writing practice, but she also admits that you have to … Continue reading Notes on Writing Down the Bones
A couple of weeks ago, I decided to eschew my electronic tasks list, calendar, and notepad in favor of a pen-and-paper system, i.e., a notebook. I was inspired by Austin Kleon's suggestion to go analog to improve creativity. So far, it's been working well, other than the small inconvenience that the notebook I chose is … Continue reading Update on going analog…
Stephen King asks: Can a novelist be too productive? We are all artists now, though. But if you don't click on this story, the writer doesn't get paid.
Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon (austinkleon.com) is a short book--you can read it in under an hour--but it contains many gems of advice about living a creative life. Kleon is a writer, visual artist, and hobbyist musician, but his advice applies to anyone, from writers to entrepreneurs to people who just want to bring a … Continue reading Notes on Steal Like an Artist
