Tag: Creativity
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Negotiating with the dead: Margaret Atwood on what it means to be a writer
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…
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Great writing for weekend reading…
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…
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Procrastination may be good for creativity…
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).
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100-day writing challenge + zombie invasion…
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…
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Recommended Reading: Men Explain Things to Me
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…
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Everyone is creative…
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…
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Notes on Writing Down the Bones
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…
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Update on going analog…
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…
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A few recent links about writing and similar creative pursuits…
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.
Shannon Turlington 