Category Archives: Inspiration

4 simple ways to have a great idea–Richard St. John

I enjoyed this five-minute TED talk by Richard St. John. In it, he draws on lessons from Richard Branson, singer Sam Smith, Google co-founder Larry Page, Botox-pioneer Dr. Jean Carruthers, and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman.

It speaks to those of us putting words to screen, paint on canvas, plans to paper, and everything in between. For some, the ideas aren’t new, but who doesn’t need a few reminders every once in awhile?

Some favorite quotes:

“Ears are wifi for ideas.”

“EyeQ often wins over IQ.”

“When a really great dream shows up, grab it.”

Derek Sivers: 6 links re: a very interesting guy

Derek Sivers offers mountains of value at no cost to you.

Check out his notes on books he’s read.

More specifically, writers, here are his notes on the classic, On Writing Well.

And this blog post: $250K books sold. $250K to save lives.

Here are Goodreads comments on his book, Hell Yeah or No: What’s Worth Doing. I don’t see the book listed on Amazon, despite the Amazon link on the Goodreads page. It didn’t turn up in Apple Books either, so I think he’s simply selling it on his site. Sounds good to me.

Even better than the comments, here is his overview of the book. (Feels more like the entire book. Hey, I’m not complaining.)

Authors interviewing characters: 9+ examples

When I get bogged down in a story, I often resort to talking with my characters.

Books By Women features that very strategy, among plenty of other resources.

Here is a link to the first page of authors interviewing their characters. Click further to find additional interviews…of both characters AND the writers.

Curation Corner: Erika Dreifus’ Practicing Writer

I’ve followed the work of Erika Dreifus’ work for about three years, further proof of what a slacker I’ve been for not passing it along to you folks sooner.

And so, still in ‘slacker’ mode, I’ll let her monthly newsletter’s table of contents do my work for me:

IN THIS ISSUE:

  1. Editor’s Note: What’s New
  2. Success Stories
  3. Featured Resource
  4. Upcoming/Ongoing Contests, Competitions, and Other Opportunities (NO ENTRY OR APPLICATION FEES; PAYING OPPORTUNITIES ONLY)
  5. Submission Alerts!!! (NO SUBMISSION/READING FEES; PAYING CALLS ONLY)
  6. Blog Notes
  7. Newsletter Matters

You can sign up for the newsletter here.

Curation Corner: A writing conference on one page

Fellow writers, in these pandemically, financially-challenging times, here–courtesy of BookBub–is your ticket to a writers conference and you can keep your bunny slippers on the whole time. [Hey, guy-writers, I’m not judging…]

The word cloud above supplies most of the topics. Check it out and run the sessions in the background while you’re baking writer’s block brownies for your self-selected ‘intermission’. Don’t forget the Italian roast, though I know some writers from the great state of Virginia prefer tea. ;-]

Curation Corner: toasted-cheese.com

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

Picked up on this interesting site via my weekly Internet Scout Report.

This link takes you to its calendar of writing topics/prompts, but check out the other menu items as well, including the Writer’s Excuse Bingo, which strikes me as potential Zoom meeting fodder for your writers group.

[Note: Ignore the ‘Resources’ menu item. Lots of dead ends there.]

Enjoy!

Curation Corner: Check out WritingRoutines.com

Whoa…the 100 Interviews page alone abounds with lessons and insights from successful writers, researchers, and award-winners.

Some favorite topics covered:

  1. The trap of calling yourself a ‘writer’ [Neil Pasricha]
  2. Drawing to Spark Writiing [Dana Simpson]
  3. Carving out distraction-free creative blocks [Dr. Michael Greger]
  4. Declaring a ‘shut-down’ time [KJ Dell’Antonia]
  5. How to be indistractable [Nir Eyal]

Just think of the self-customized online course you could create this site.

And if you’re in a writers group, this is tailor-made or a fun and informative Zoom meeting.

Curation Corner: You Can’t Write What You Wouldn’t Read

Target with the words discipline desire drive

The latest from Jon Winokur’s Advice to Writers blog. Also, excerpted in The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing

The most important thing is you can’t write what you wouldn’t read for pleasure. It’s a mistake to analyze the market thinking you can write whatever is hot. You can’t say you’re going to write romance when you don’t even like it. You need to write what you would read if you expect anybody else to read it. And you have to be driven. You have to have the three D’s: drive, discipline and desire. If you’re missing any one of those three, you can have all the talent in the world, but it’s going to be really hard to get anything done. —           Nora Roberts