“I wonder if I don't give too much of myself to writing: I am always half where I am; the other half is feeding the furnace, kick-starting the heat of creativity. I am making love with someone but at the same time I'm noticing how this graceful hand across my belly might just fit in with the memory of lilacs in Albuquerque in 1974.”—Natalie Goldberg

I remember hearing Diana Gabaldon say one time that being a writer means that if you were held up during a convenience store robbery, one part of your brain would be able to remain detached enough to observe “so this is what it feels like to be held at gunpoint.”

Anything is fodder for your writing. Fiction or nonfiction, nothing is off limits. As soon as you start setting boundaries on what you are or aren’t willing to explore, you miss out on discoveries that could enrich your writing. This isn’t to say there shouldn’t be boundaries on what you’re willing to put out into the world, that choice may be different for each of us. But at the outset, there should be no corner too far away to be explored, no closet so dark we should not cast a light into it.

“Remember that you own what happened to you. If your childhood was less than ideal, you may have been raised thinking that if you told the truth about what really went on in your family, a long bony white finger would emerge from a cloud and point to you, while a chilling voice thundered, "We *told* you not to tell." But that was then. Just put down on paper everything you can remember now about your parents and siblings and relatives and neighbors, and we will deal with libel later on.” —Anne Lamott

“I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.”—James A Michener

In addition to my fetish for stationery, I have a passion for words. Written and spoken. Language is like music to me, like a puzzle, like a secret code. Dialect, syntax, colloquialisms, inflection, slang, romance languages, Germanic languages, Latin roots. Sometimes I can sort of unfocus my mind a bit and step back into a place of amazement at how language works. How we can convey complex thoughts and ideas with some sounds shaped by our breath, lips, teeth and tongue.

This love of language then morphs into wonder at how fluid reality is, how each of us can interpret the same event through different eyes and different contexts. Then there’s the granddaddy of all paradoxes – how sometimes fiction can be more true than facts.

When you have a love affair with words and language, explore it all. Write about everything. Write to discover how you feel about something. Let your subconscious lead you across the page. Let your imagination carry you away to dance with words and ideas.

Sometimes when I read, I want to read slowly, to savor the language like rich chocolate. “All the Pretty Horses” (Cormac McCarthy) is that way to me. Sometimes, language is fun like cherry cream soda – like Dr. Seuss or Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky.

Whether you’re reading or writing, stop once in awhile to enjoy the language.

If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it.”—Anais Nin

“But now I know that imagination comes, works, when you are not trying, when you have a peculiar passive clarity.” --Brenda Ueland

Natalie Goldberg calls it Monkey Mind and Wild Mind. Some people think of it as right and left brain, rational and intuitive, concrete and abstract . . .

Whatever you call it, the place where your imagination lives is a wide, expansive place, sometimes difficult to access. You can’t force it.

I think your imagination lives in the same place memory does. Have you ever been watching a movie and recognized one of the actors from something else you’ve seen? You try to think what movie it was, what character, and the harder to dig for the memory, the tighter your mind clenches around it. Finally you give up. Later that night while you’re washing dishes or taking a shower, suddenly the movie, the character, the name, whatever it was you were trying to remember drifts from your subconscious accompanied by a feeling of “well, duh”.

It’s like the old story about how to catch a monkey. Cut an opening into a coconut that is just large enough to put a hand in, but not large enough to pull a fist out. Put a tasty treat inside. Tie the coconut to a tree. When a monkey reaches in for the treat and can’t remove his hand, he gets quite upset but doesn’t let go of the treat, thus being caught. The irony is the true trap is not the coconut, but the monkey’s mind and his unwillingness to “Let Go.”

The next time you’re trying to remember something, or trying to solve a problem (with writing or otherwise), if the solution doesn’t present itself, try relaxing and letting go. Wash dishes, do some gardening, go for a walk, engage in something creative like painting or coloring. Or write around the problem. Let your subconscious, your Wild Mind, work on it. Write what comes before (before the story opens, even) or what comes after, or whatever is happening meanwhile back at the ranch. Relax and have some fun. I like to call these informative scenes ‘outtakes’ because I never intend to include them in the final draft. I just write them to entertain myself, inform the story, or solve a problem.

“...[T]here should be a real sense of your imagination and your memories walking and woolgathering, tramping the hills, romping all over the place. Trust them. Don't look at your feet to see if you are doing it right. Just dance.” —Anne Lamott

“Sometimes, when it's going badly, she wonders if what she believes to be a love of the written word is really just a fetish for stationery. The true writer, the born writer, will scribble words on scraps of litter, the back of a bus ticket, on the wall of a cell.” --David Nicholls, One Day, 2010

Okay, I’ll admit it. I have a fetish for stationery. I love colored parchment, pretty flowery designs, new fountain pens, and most especially, fancy journals. Since I was very young, I’ve always felt that if I could find just the right notebook, the prettiest paper, the smoothest pen, I would be able to stay neat and organized with my homework, or when I was older, that I would be able to write the Great American Novel.

The truth is, the fancy journals get in the way of writing a novel. They get in the way of writing to discover what I have to say on any given subject. They get in the way of most everything type of writing except for the imaginary kind I do in my head with poetic turns of phrase and flourishes of my pen. I have a whole shelf of various kinds of fancy notebooks and journals, and every one of them empty.

This is why I particularly like Natalie Goldberg’s advice:

“Sometimes people buy expensive hardcover journals. They are bulky and heavy, and because they are fancy, you are compelled to write something good. Instead you should feel that you have permission to write the worst junk in the world and it would be okay. Give yourself a lot of space in which to explore writing. A cheap spiral notebook lets you feel that you can fill it quickly and afford another.”—Natalie Goldberg

“The best way to get quiet, other than the combination of extensive therapy, Prozac, and a lobotomy, is first to notice that the station is on. KFKD [K-Fucked] is on every single morning when I sit down at my desk.” —Anne Lamott

Most of us recognize the conflicting mutter of thoughts in the back of our mind as we write. Some are maybe more aware than others, but we all have it, and if you pay attention, you come to realize each voice has a different personality. I heard of one person who referred to this mutter of thoughts as the Committee. She said she pictured them to be the Seven Dwarves sitting around the boardroom table in Snow White’s cottage, arguing.

Maybe you remember the television series “Herman’s Head” in which the majority of the show took place in the main character’s mind. The various aspects of Herman's personality would discuss the event, replay realted memories, worry about possible outcomes, demand desires be met.

My committee changes. I think they must have a term limit. Sometimes my Muse resembles something along the lines of Stephen King’s boys in the basement. Sometimes my Muse is the Lily Tomlin operator character. One time when I was particularly frustrated, Debbie recommended I have a meeting with my committee. I recognized it as a good suggestion and when it was time to write that day I sat back for a few minutes to conjure up my committee. I was pretty surprised to see the cast of the Waltons filing in and sitting down.

Anne Lamott’s “committee” apparently broadcasts their board meetings on a radio station.

Whatever your committee is, it’s important to recognize each of these voices for what they are – fear, worry, boredom, optimism, pessimism, inspiration, and so on. Once you’ve recognized them, excuse them. Thank them for their input, ask them to leave. Then go on with your writing time. Just because all those voices have something to say doesn’t mean it’s constructive for your writing, or even particularly truthful.

Try this: Open your writing notebook and draw a line down the middle of the page. On one side, choose your writing prompt, set the timer for five minutes, and start writing. On the other side of the paper, take notes about what the committee members have to say as you write. When the time is up, read over the committee’s comments. Personify each voice. Have fun with it. Put a hat on one, give a cigar to another, let one wring her hands, let another one make sweeping generalizations and grandiose statements.

Once you have met and gotten to know each one, acknowledge their opinion and thank them for participating. Then ask everyone but the Muse to leave your writing space. One or two may be invited back in to help edit later, but for now, when you are freewriting, it should only be you and the Muse.

“Imagine how little good music there would be if, for example, a conductor refused to play Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on the grounds that his audience may have heard it before.”—A.P. Herbert

“There are only 7 basic story plots.”
“There is only one basic plot and that stems from conflict.”
“There are twenty basic plots.”
(Click here for short description of each of these theories.)

They may argue on the exact number, but to be sure, the number of plots in literature is far less than the number of great stories. Don’t be afraid to explore a common plot or theme. As long as you write honestly your unique combination of personality, experiences, education, voice, and influences will give whatever plot you choose originality. No one else on earth has the same set of circumstances you do, and for that reason alone, no one else can see the world quite like you do.

“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.” --C. S. Lewis

“Don't let a single day go by without writing. Even if it's garbage, if garbage is all you can write, write it. Garbage eventually becomes compost with a little treatment.”—unknown

If I approach my writing time with discipline, determined to write no matter how wooden or bland it feels, I often discover that, as I’ve been plopping words on the page without enthusiasm, an idea emerges that I had no idea was lingering in the back of my mind. Rather like one of Rorschach’s inkblots, the image may be merely a suggestion, I may have to squint and tilt my head to the side, but hey – it sure does look like an idea worth following.

Remember, no word is wasted effort. Some words grow into ideas, some are mere fertilizer, but even fertilizer serves a purpose.

“Nora Roberts says ‘you can fix anything but a blank page’ and that’s absolutely true. If you spend a day writing crap, you can fix it. If you spend a day not writing, you’ve got nothing”.—Eve Ackerman

“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”—Stephen King

The first time I heard this advice, I was appalled. Why would you write something good and then delete it? I had to sweat over those words, had worked hard on them and was proud of them. So why get rid of them?

I gradually came to understand the intent of this advice, even though I still hated having to follow it. I would read through a draft and debate how darling a particular line or passage was, and why it should remain. The harder I argued to keep something in, the bigger the red flag to take it out. The point is, your writing shouldn’t call attention to itself. It should transfer the story to the reader’s imagination without preening and admiring itself in the mirror. Especially if it’s only a line here or there.

Eventually, I learned to recognize the voice that liked putting those darlings in and fought so hard to keep them. I call it my greeting card voice, my melodramatic voice, my show-off voice. I don’t trouble keep this voice out of the first draft. Sometimes that voice has really good ideas cloaked in the poetic turns of phrase. But on the second draft, watch out. I recently found a way to soothe my poet's feelings over deleting the darlings. Greeting card companies will pay for poetic turns of phrase they use on their cards. They don’t like sappy, sweet, or melodramatic voices either, but they do sometimes like ‘the darlings’.

Stephen King was not the first to offer this advice. Check out the dates for these other quotes:

“Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.” --Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784

“Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it – whole-heartedly – and delete it before sending your manuscripts to press. Murder your darlings”. –Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, 1916

“In writing, you must kill all your darlings.” —William Faulkner, 1897-1962

“If you’re going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come. You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow.”—Louis L’Amour

What is it that gets in your way to prevent you from writing? Sometimes it’s life. Events out of your control pop up and interfere with your schedule. Not much we can do about that except have a plan for a minimum amount of writing time on those days. But what about the times when you sit down to write and you just don’t feel inspired? When anything sounds more interesting than sitting at your keyboard wrestling over one word at a time?

Give some thought to why you might be stuck –is it than you’re bored with what you’re writing? You don’t know what happens next? You’re worrying if it’s good enough?

While you’re pondering that in the back of your mind, change up your writing routine. Pack up and head to a café or to another room in your house, or outside. Ditch the computer and try writing longhand. Set a timer for small increments and practice freewriting (keep your hand moving, no stopping, no editing, no rules).

“You can't think yourself out of a writing block, you have to write yourself out of a thinking block.” --John Rogers

“Within our dreams and aspirations, we find our opportunities.” –Sue Atchley Ebaugh

There are many different words to describe how it happens. Serendipity is one of my favorites. The actual definition of serendipity is “The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.” Jung called it synchronicity. Others call it a lucky break or the hand of God. Julia Cameron (The Artist’s Way) says the what must come before the how. A perfect example of this the famous line from Field of Dreams – “If you build it, they will come.”

Sometimes what is most needed is to step out in faith and do the work you love. The Universe will meet you more than halfway. It may not look quite like you first envisioned it, but it is surprising how opportunities seem to present themselves once you wholeheartedly commit to a course of action.

Use S.M.A.R.T. goals to set a course toward your dreams.

“Leap and the net will appear.”—John Burroughs “If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.”—Thomas A. Edison

“We have seen too much defeatism, too much pessimism, too much of a negative approach. The answer is simple: if you want something very badly, you can achieve it. It may take patience, very hard work, a real struggle, and a long time; but it can be done. . . faith is a prerequisite of any undertaking.”
—Margo Jones

Patience, hard work, time, and faith. It’s simple recipe. If you have a dream you want to realize, the first step is to set a SMART goal. Try applying this method to your writing goals.

• Specific – Too general and you don’t have a target to aim for. You should be able to state what, why, and how, each in a single sentence.


• Measurable – You must be able to measure your progress, which means setting milestones and target dates.


• Attainable – Identify goals that are important to you. If you set goals that are too far out of your reach, you probably won’t commit to doing your best to achieve it. This also means setting goals you are able to reach without luck or dependency on other variables falling into place.


• Realistic – This doesn’t mean easy. It means ‘do-able’. Set the bar high enough that you have to work for it, but reasonable enough that you don’t feel doomed to failure before you even begin.


• Timely – Set a timeframe. Set deadlines. Set target dates for milestones along the way. If you don’t set a time limit, the commitment is too vague and you will put it off because you feel can start at any time.

This method works for any goal you can set. Try it. You might surprise yourself with what you can accomplish.

“If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you’re right.”
—Mary Kay Ash

“When people make changes in their lives in a certain area, they may start by changing the way they talk about that subject, how they act about it, their attitude toward it, or an underlying decision concerning it.” –Jean Illsley Clarke

How you view yourself will affect how seriously you take your desire to write, which will profoundly affect your ability to be a writer.

When someone asks what you do, how do you reply? Do you offer your title at your day job? Or do you say “I am a writer”? If it’s the former, it’s time to come out of the closet and claim the identity. As long as your writer identity is in the closet, your commitment to making time to write, making the effort when inspiration is lacking, or submitting your writing somewhere will be less than what it could be.

“The Chinese say that water is the most powerful element, because it is perfectly nonresistant. It can wear away rock and sweep all before it.” --Florence Scovel Shinn

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” As children we are taught that words are just words, as harmless gentle raindrops. As we grow up, our experience tells us differently. It’s true, words are just a collection of vocalized sounds or black marks on paper, but in their silent, nonresistant way, they can be a torrent that wears away the rock of someone’s prejudice, or a river that carves a canyon between cultures, or cool relief that soothes the sting other words have caused.

Never underestimate the power of honesty and passion in your writing.

“The pen is mightier than the sword.”—Edward Bulwer-Lytton (author of the famous “It was a dark and stormy night.” opening line)

“Like an old gold-panning prospector, you must resign yourself to digging up a lot of sand from which you will later patiently wash out a few minute particles of gold ore.” –Dorothy Bryant

I’ve heard it said you sometimes need to write 100 pages and throw away the first 99 to get something good. If you think about words like sand, that you need a hundred pounds of ‘sand’ to find ten flakes of gold, suddenly freewriting takes on a whole new meaning. It becomes a sluice box rather than a single pan. Freewrite as if you need to produce a hundred pounds of words for every ounce of gold.

“I write one page of masterpiece to ninety-one pages of shit,” Hemingway confided to F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1934. “I try to put the shit in the wastebasket.”

"I believe that true identity is found . . . in creative activity springing from within. It is found, paradoxically, when one loses oneself." - Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I believe this is true about all writing—fiction and nonfiction. The act of writing opens a channel to the page from an inner world that we tend to keep under tight control lest some 'inappropriate' idea escape. If you really relax and let it flow, i.e. 'lose oneself', often the words that find their way to the page surprise and inform. And once out there, we can realize even the 'inappropriate' ideas have value, an honesty that will resonate with others far better than any carefully shepherded words are able to.

When you sit down to freewrite, do so with the intention of staying out of your own way, of not directing your thoughts into safe, 'acceptable' channels.

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." - Rumi

Quote of the Day

A little more than a year and a half ago, inspired by the movie Julie and Julia, a very good friend of mine made a New Year’s resolution to blog every single day for one year. She was just embarking on a writing journey separate from many years of academic writing. During the course of the year, she confided she had a hard time blogging some days, was uninspired some days, but in the whole 365 days, I think she missed blogging only one day. I was impressed by her commitment and self discipline, and through her effort, our discussion of how to write even when it’s difficult was born. That led to the book I’m currently working on, which indirectly led to an idea for a quote a day with a daily ‘meditation’ for writers to help through the uninspired times.

Debbie died unexpectedly a few weeks ago, leaving unrealized dreams, unfinished writing projects, and a world poorer for her absence. Today is her birthday and today I am committing to 365 days of posting to my blog.

After some consideration, I decided to post writing quotes, which Debbie and I both loved to share and discuss, and a daily ‘meditation’ to help in uninspired times. My hope is that, rather than being preachy, it will be an inspiration, as Debbie’s blog was to me. I hope it will also be a reflection of my core belief that writing every day is a crucial habit for writers to form. Even if it’s only five minutes, don’t let a single day go by without writing.

With seven kids at home, a full time job, teaching writing workshops, and volunteering, some days five minutes of writing time is all I can manage. If I can do it, my hope is you will be inspired to, too.

(Click HERE if you’d like to read Debbie’s yearlong blog)

Writing Rules

Writing Rules - whenever I bring this up in a discussion, I get mixed reactions. If you read this article on Writing Rules thru to the comments, you'll see a sampling of more mixed reactions. In my workshops, I teach that there are no rules for the first draft. If you stop to worry whether or not you're doing it right, you'll stifle your creativity. The first time around just dance. When you're ready to revise is time enough to look at the rules and decide which work and which you will choose to skip.

The Perfect Time To Write

Awhile ago, I signed up for Daily Writing Tips blog via email. That's about my speed, since some days I barely take time to look at my email, let alone surf and read interesting articles. Anyway, today's was particularly apt: "Why there'll never be a perfect time to write." Check it out: Daily Writing Tips.

What's keeping YOU from writing?

Til Death Us Do Part

I'm currently working on a writing book, and one chapter is based on one of the very first quotes I stumbled across when I began to pursue writing seriously. "Either marry your writing (write every day) or date it (write only when you want), but know which you are choosing and the repercussions of both." (I have searched and searched and found no one to attribute this quote to - if you know, please share.)

Make a Commitment.

If you truly want to do something with your writing, you need to make a commitment. You need to "marry your writing". That means writing every day whether you 'feel' like it or not.

It means:
For better or worse (even on the crappy days),
For richer or poorer (yeah, probably poorer - unless you keep your day job, too),
In sickness and in health (sometimes your writing can take care of you when you're sick. Plus, you don't have to get dressed or leave the house),
Til death do us part.

I've been thinking a lot about that last one recently. My best friend and writing partner, Debbie, died suddenly last week. At first I couldn't face writing because I was working on a draft that was covered with her notes and fresh with memories of our brainstorming. But I know Debbie wouldn't have wanted to be the reason I stopped writing. So I've been struggling to take baby steps each day with my writing goals. Because my vow wasn't to her - I can't stop writing because she did (maybe now she has all the time she wants to write?) - my vow is to MY writing. Even while I grieve, I need to carry on and keep working toward my goals.

I think that along the road of life (excuse me while I wax poetic), we all encounter 'deaths' - the loss of friends, jobs, book deals, and more. Sometimes those can be hard hits to our motivation to write. But, if you're truly committed to being a writer, you need to keep writing. It's like getting thrown from a horse. The best thing you can do is to get back on and keep writing....er, riding. Because if you don't, the permission to stop for a day or two can turn into a week or two, and then a month or two, until you have to start all over building that daily practice again.

How do I know this?

Because last September, another very close friend and writing partner died suddenly. It was months before I pushed myself to return to writing. I lost my momentum on the book I was writing and still haven't been able to return to fiction. So Debbie and I worked out a plan where we'd meet every week and I would set writing goals to get myself back on track. We'd meet at a local coffee house, and we'd share how our week had been, if we'd met our writing goals, what our challenges were (read: excuses), and then set new goals for the next week. Many of those conversations were fodder for the writing book I'm working on now (titled, strangely enough, Face the Page). The last time I saw her was at my most recent writing workshop. It was the first time I used the "Marry Your Writing" topic, and our exercise was to write our vows.

I know if Debbie was here, she'd gently but very insistently remind me of those vows, and help me keep them.

Time to practice what I preach, right?

Writing rituals, totems and talismans

A ritual is a pattern of behavior, which, like Pavlov's dog, signals us that it's time to write. A walk, mediation, a cup of a particular flavor of tea, a certain kind of music...

The word ‘totem’ is of Native American origin, but totem-like beliefs have been historically present throughout much of the world. In Native American culture it’s a spirit guide. In writing it symbolizes the Muse.

A talisman is regarded as a repository for magical energy, like a battery. In writing this can be most anything that inspires us or carries symbolic power. Quartz is believed to increase inspiration and creativity.

What rituals, totems or talismans get (and keep) you writing?