Always.
Especially in what you’re writing.
Yes, you might have to sacrifice a few gigs.
But you can look yourself in the mirror, convinced you followed your own compass.
Take a look at numbers 3 and 4 in this list. [Thank you, Stephen King.]
Category Archives: Writing
Writers Horoscope November 23: Today, you write to thank someone.
Perfect time of year for it, of course.
There’s a good chance someone out there has shifted your writing life in a positive direction.
You don’t even have to trot out the flowery prose. Just talk to them on paper.
Ex. “You know what? You believed in me when I was ready to chuck it all. You were my audience of one and, at right then, that was enough for me. Thanks for being there. [and for the coffee].”
Keep it simple and sincere.
Then, go old school and pop it in the mail.
Polish off that piece of pumpkin pie and find that pen and paper.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Writers Horoscope November 22: You take the eclectic approach to your day-launch.
Sometimes you’re not sure where to start.
Maybe you don’t need to lock yourself in.
I’ve been using the template above for the last month.
Here is my Eclectic Journal prototype, along with a third page detailing the origins of three of the components.
I hope it works for some of you.
And feel free to pass it along.
Writers Horoscope November 21: Today, you open Pandora’s box.
You knew it was in there.
Under the mounds of ‘have-to’s’ and the ill-timed ‘what about this?’…
an ever-expanding inventory of ideas.
Just like writing for you, and you alone , you make time to delve into ‘what if?’ and ‘why not?’
No concrete goal.
Just play and see what materializes.
And to keep that momentum, check these out…
The Ultimate Guide for Becoming an Idea Machine
Writers Horoscope November 20: Today, resistance comes knockin’…again.
Maybe you’ve put a face to the voice of doubt.
But you’re just getting started.
To quote Steven Pressfield in The War of Art, ‘resistance never sleeps.’
You will hear the knock at the door every day.
It is a daily struggle.
To quote the author: “From age twenty-four to thirty-two, Resistance kicked my ass from East Coast to West and back again thirteen times and I never even knew it existed.”
So, knowing it exists, aim to win today and worry about tomorrow, well, tomorrow.
I’ll close with perhaps my favorite quote from the book:
“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”
***
Once again, a sincere note of appreciation to Tara Rodden Robinson for not just introducing me to this book, but actually gifting me with it, way back in 2006.
Further proof that she really wanted to change the lives of her students.
No commissions here. Just another book I believe in.
Writers Horoscope November 19: Today, you step out in faith.
You reach for your pen and, to ‘make it happen’, you ‘write it down’.
This is the key message of Henriette Anne Klauser’s Write It Down, Make It Happen.
It is a go-to book that reminds you to put your whole life–not just your writing life–on the front burner.
Many thanks to Tara Rodden Robinson for introducing me to WID,MIH back in 2006.
No commissions here. Just a book I believe in.
Writers Horoscope for November 18: Your latest project? Bigger than you’d planned.
So you’ve shrugged off criticism.
And writer’s guilt? Gone for now!
But someone approaches you with a profitable offer and, freed of fear and doubt, you say, “Yes.”
Uh-ohhhh.
Here are a few tips on tackling a big writing job…[Note: this is geared toward academia, but the guidelines still apply.]
On the fiction side, try some prewriting strategies.
Writers Horoscope for November 17: Everyone’s a critic.
You have to decide which ones are worth listening to.
A few gems from those who have lived with criticism throughout their entire writing life…
“If critics say your work stinks it’s because they want it to stink and they can make it stink by scaring you into conformity with their comfortable little standards. Standards so low that they can no longer be considered “dangerous” but set in place in their compartmental understandings.” — Jack Kerouac
“The thing people don’t realize, God bless them, is that my books are supposed to suck.”
— Stephanie Meyer
“I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works.” — Samuel Johnson
“Critics in New York are made by their dislikes, not by their enthusiasms.” — Irwin Shaw
Writers Horoscope for November 16: You couldn’t help yourself.
Writing projects…coming at you from all sides.
Most of them half-completed. [if you’re lucky].
Let’s hope you’re taking yesterday’s dealing with guilt advice to heart.
But there’s still work to do.
Sort out the three or four ‘loudest’, most insistent projects.
And get back to scheduling.
Give each of them at least 15 minutes.
[You and I both know those sessions will stretch to 25 or 30 minutes.]
You will see real progress and, even more important, you can sleep soundly knowing these projects are no longer collecting psychic dust.
Word Inventions 