Branching out with my writing
As I was curating for my previous post on podcasts for writers, I ran across Writers, Ink, a team effort of J.D. Barker, J. Thorn, and Zach Bohannon.
When I clicked over to their website, I signed up for the free revision course (see above).
Am hoping it will A. offer some helpful strategies B. nudge me to open some work that needs my attention [i.e. is collecting digital dust].
Hope this help, writers.
Greetings, writers.
Another gem. This one from Alice Florence Orr of podcastreview.org.
I’m most intrigued by Writers, Ink.
Orr’s description: Hosted by three bestselling authors, Writers, Ink will make you feel better about that unfinished manuscript on your flash drive.
As I finish this post, I’m listening to the episode The Benefits of Writing in the Morning.
Hope this help, writers.
Greetings, writers.
Click the above word cloud for a two-minute curation of Stefanie Flaxman’s Be a Bad Writer to Be a Great Writer post on Copyblogger.
While this site is directed at entrepreneurs and content marketing, it is filled with solid advice and strategies for all writers.
As I’m writing this, Dan (The DaVinci Code) Brown is the middle of his 50-minute YouTube video that includes a Q and A session with students who had signed up for his MasterClass course.
Here is the link to MasterClass Live on YouTube. Lots of excellent free knowledge being shared by the experts.
I was going to post this next week, but I’m going to squeeze this in today to promote their 2-for-1 annual membership offer through Nov. 30. (Nope, not getting any $$ for doing this. Just wanted to pass this along. I’m inches away from ordering myself, as it opens me up to send a free year as a Christmas gift.)
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.)
Today I’m sharing an insightful 2014 piece by Jon Brooks entitled Quentin Tarantino’s Telepathic Writing Technique.
It is packed with concepts and ideas that I hadn’t before run across.
Brooks introduced me to ‘mirror neurons’, which “fire both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another.” [Wikipedia]
Okay, where does Quentin Tarantino come in?
From Tarantino’s 2013 Oscar acceptance speech: “You guys [friends] don’t realize how important you are to my process. I don’t want input; I don’t want you to tell me if I’m doing anything wrong. Heavens forbid. But, I write a scene and I think I’ve heard it as much as I can, but then when I read it to you – I don’t give it to you to read, I read it – but when I read it to you, I hear it through your ears. And it lets me know I’m on the right track.”
As he reads, then, Tarantino’s mirror neurons fire and he picks up the listeners’ reactions to his work.
What does that mean for the rest of us who are not quite chalking up multiple Oscars?
Take that one extra step beyond reading your work aloud–find an audience who follows the rule of: No feedback, please! Brooks justifies this rule with his observation that people often don’t effectively express their impressions and misguided feedback may well lead you to the toss the whole project.
Brooks closes with this: “You want to know what you think about your work as a first-time reader, not someone else.”
Considering our current pandemic conditions, you may be relegated to telepathic writing over the phone. Hey, it’s called playing the cards we’re dealt, right?
I also tried recording a piece of my writing aloud–and then listening to that recording. I’m not sure if that recreated the mirror-neurons experience, but I will try it again. It does add some distance between yourself and your work.
So, give it a try.
Let me know how telepathic writing worked for you.
And since I’m curating, bravo to Tim Denning for rounding up these writing tips from Austin Kleon.
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!
Whoa…the 100 Interviews page alone abounds with lessons and insights from successful writers, researchers, and award-winners.
Some favorite topics covered:
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.
Word Inventions