Tag Archives: advice

Writers Horoscope August 9: Choose optimism today.

  • Rejection slips? Hey, someone [or at least someTHING] considers you among the living.
  • Put on hold when you request payment for your work? See #1. [You at least rate the push of a button.]
  • Your characters running amok? They might have a firmer grasp of the real story than you do.
  • The critique group finding hidden meaning in your work where none was intended? At least they’re reading it. And at least your words have meaning.

Writers Horoscope August 8: You may encounter an unexpected obstruction.

It’s called ‘authorial laryngitis’.

A loss of your writer’s voice.

You’re able to spit out words on your screen, but they don’t accurately reflect ‘you’.

Let’s cut to Allen Ginsberg for a solution:

“To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.”

Writers Horoscope August 7: Curiosity may get the best of you today.

In your desperate search for tantalizing bits of dialogue, you saunter into a coffee shop and slither into eavesdropping mode.

A few tips:

  • Leaning your ear toward a conversation–not cool. [Just nudge and point your voice-recording smartphone in the right direction.]
  • Dropping the fork toward the speaker–just plain desperate. [Go with a napkin and hope the air currents are friendly. Quieter. Caution: don’t use the napkin afterwards.]
  • Cupping your hands behind each ear–pathetic. [You might as well just slide in next to the folks and start jotting down their every word.]

And if you’re too busy to intrude, there are probably a few non-virtual assistants willing to help out.

eavesdropping-multiple women-door-1200

Writers Horoscope-July 30: Your high-strung tendencies can be an asset.

Your protagonist Dwayne has been a pin-cushion lately.

It’s time for him to rebel against his office doubling as a cleaning supply closet at ‘Serfs-On-Call’’. Scrawl out ‘WHAT WOULD YOU DO???’ on the nearest Big Mac wrapper, slap it on the wall, take off your pulse monitor, and picture Dwayne.

Feel the burn…you’ve been dissed one too many times…yes, that’s clumsy Art with the plumber’s crack bursting in for a mop replacement and you find yourself engulfed in rolls of bathroom tissue…there you go, now reach for that keyboard.

Hint: Stay off the ledge. You’re only on Chapter 10.

Writers Horoscope-July 29: Introspection is the order of the day.

Tread lightly.

Don’t let ‘What should I be doing with my life?’ devolve into a sniping session that spews  the age-old, ‘Shouldn’t you chisel the cheese encrusted from your front burner?’ or ‘Did the dogs get their hourly dose of love, affection, and Beggin’ Strips?’ or–the most hurtful of all–’Are you gonna wear that today?’.

Writers Horoscope-July 26

Today? Face reality.

It’s nitty-gritty time in the writer’s workroom.

Yesterday’s [July 25] noble effort to ‘simplify’ has, of course, complicated things.

You’ve discovered a wealth of vivid characterization, intriguing plot points, and cogent, logical outlining…in freehand.

Time to digitize. Yes, type.

Fire up the Ninja Coffee Bar, cue up your ‘Gettin’ Stuff Done’ playlist, and launch into a keyboarding trance.

See you on the other side.