Why You Deserve to Write
Do I find time or make time to write? Even on the busiest days? Days when I have to work? Pick up kids? Take care of parents?
Nine years ago, after the release of my how-to writing book, “Writer with a Day Job” (Harper Collins/Writers Digest Books, 2011), I got a note from a woman who said that her personal takeaway from the book was that we deserve to write.
How Writing Helps Us Through Hard Times and Life Changes
Can writing help us through tough times? Or to cope with life changes, like a new job or college?
1. “Why do you write?
2. In writing, what is your greater purpose?”
How To Write During Anxious Times
Thinking or speaking or informing ourselves about anything else except COVID-19 or the Corona virus pandemic seems frivolous or selfish. This article offers 7 tips on how writing can help in anxious times.
Writing and Winter Blues
Can writing help me on my blah or down days? Can writing help with winter blues?
By mid November, my mood starts to match the New England weather outside my window.
In winter, my brain and my words turn monochrome, moody and sludgy.
Ditch that Messy Draft. Embrace the Blank Writing Page.
Should I write a new draft? Or throw my writing away?
Yesterday I decided to dust off an old, Thanksgiving holiday-themed essay. It had already been drafted and re-drafted, so (I convinced myself) it would only take an hour to edit, fix and pitch.
What to Write When You Just Can't Write
Few of us live in a single-occupancy, write-all-day bubble. Most of us balance writing with a day job, a household, a host of deadlines. Many of us balance writing with a job and family responsibilities and volunteer work.
Add to this that, at least here in New England, there are winter days when it's hard to get out of our own way--let alone get creative.
On Labor Day: What Your Day Job Brings to Your Writing (and vice versa)
Once, during a job interview, one of the interviewers confessed that she had google-ed me.
Then, she asked me if, as a creative writer, I actually had time for any other work—including that potential job.
This wasn’t friendly small talk between two just-met strangers.
What Can You Give Up to Keep Writing?
How can you carve time out of your busy life to write?
Sometimes when I'm lying awake at night, I play little 'what-if' games in which I present myself with a set of tough choices.
In one fictitious scenario, I ask myself if I would give up creative writing if my paycheck-earning job flat out demanded it?
Writing and Speaking on Immigration
This spring, I was invited to give an evening presentation that was partly craft (writing nonfiction) and partly thematic (writing about immigration). Specifically, we were going to chat about short-form nonfiction, and how and why I wrote and collected the personal essays in my just-released book, Green Card & Other Essays.
Half-way through the evening, and long before our Q & A discussion, a woman in the audience interrupted to ask about my current immigration status.
How to Prepare for Your Next Author Reading or Book Event
How to prepare for your book launch or author reading.
I love to tell stories, so here’s a tale about the worst — and I mean the absolute, down-and-out worst — public author reading I’ve ever attended.
My New Morning Run Is Giving Me New Writing Tips
Two months ago, just before Thanksgiving, I handed in my notice to leave my job in healthcare communications.
Some folks told me I was brave. Others inferred that I was either spoiled or crazy or both.
Writer, Keep a Personal Journal
Journal writing for writers
Recently I started and abandoned a novel by a popular British (male) author. It was a well-plotted and witty story. But it was un-finishable and, afterward, un-memorable.
Big American Anniversaries
This month I celebrate the 30th anniversary of that day when I landed, terrified and wide-eyed, in America.
Anniversaries are a time for looking backward, so these days my eyes are firmly fixed in the rear-view mirror.
Writing and Courage
This weekend, I found myself writing in my journal that, among all my mid-life regrets (and there are many), most or all of my slip ups can be traced back to a failure of personal courage.
Sure, at the time, it felt more comfortable to take the easy road, the less scary or daring choice. But now, in hindsight, I see this was a mistake.
I'm a 'Successful' Writer. Really?
Yesterday in my local newspaper, I read this piece, "External Success Can be a Mirage," from Dr. Jim Manganiello, a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist.
Though he appears to live less than 10 miles from me, I've never met Dr. Manganiello, and his wellness column wasn't specifically about creative writing.
Hey, Writers! Can You Come Out To Play?
I love when I find a class or presentation on a topic that's dear to my heart and that links my working and creative lives.
So, a few weeks ago, imagine my joy when I landed on a six-week course, "Medicine and The Arts," presented by the University of Cape Town.
Writing: The Enemy Of Mindfulness?
I meditate, but only for 10-minute stints, and I don't do it every day. I’m a very sporadic and inconsistent yogi. I've never been to an ashram and probably never will.
Surviving Writers Rejection
I still remember that day when my then-publisher rejected my second book, which was to have been Book 2 in a two-book contract.
In retrospect, I'm sure that editor was justified. The book was a 180-degree switch from the first book, it wasn't very plot driven, and it was, she said, "very dark in places."
Is This Thing On? 6 Tips For Doing Author Interviews
This week I was interviewed by the editors at The Fem, an online feminist literary magazine.
It's always a thrill to be interviewed--not just because it's flattering, but because it forces us to step back and behold our work, our lives, and why we even bother to write in the first place.
Teaching Creative Writing Workshops: 8 Ways To Prepare and Plan
I often teach and lead writing workshops—primarily in New England and greater Boston—and there's nothing more thrilling than rummaging through my Evernote files and bookshelves to find just that right article or essay or video clip that will, I hope, inspire a group of writers.