After last night’s Writers Club meeting: A Friend: It’s like you know a secret language we don’t. Me: I do?? I’m still not sure I entirely understand what he meant–something about having the key to getting writing done, moving forward, etc. I had told my writing group that I’d only be there if I hit my writing goal target for… Read More
Battling the Demons
Summoning my inner shield maiden Yesterday was a visceral reminder that Daring Greatly=Vulnerability. And that before you can even step in the arena, you have to battle the Anxiety demon and his more blood-thirsty cousin, Terror, who are guarding the gates. Those guys weren’t messing around, either. My first battle weapons (frequent breaks, exercise) didn’t even make a dent. When… Read More
GRIT – Passion and Perseverance for Really Long-Term Goals
It’s hard to overstate how important grit is to success in life – for kids and adults. People sometimes look at me and think (or say out loud!), “Well, sure you’re successful at fill-in-the-blank. You’re smart or have a Ph.D. or work hard or fill-in-other-attribute.” Very seldom is GRIT identified as the supposed magic ingredient for my success (however you… Read More
Altered Traits
Made my doctor’s day this morning. I led with: “I’ve been meditating daily since I saw you in September.” I was a wreck then, limping around with major back pain. Today I was effusing about the change in my mind/body over three months of rigorous healing/rejuvenation, including all kinds of exercise, yoga, meditation, at-home PT, etc. She was like, “Now… Read More
Let’s Talk About Failure…
I do things with a high probability of failure built into them just for the learning experience. So, let’s talk about failure. I fail—all the time, in fact. I’m constantly daring, risking, and there’s a certain amount of failure that comes with that. I don’t like it, mind you. It’s painful. Monetary loss can hurt, personal pride hits are hard,… Read More
That Time I Finished A Book In A Month Without Stressing Out
In June of this year, I had a crazy deadline I had to meet—a book from start-to-finish in a month, with a hard deadline in the form of an Amazon pre-order (let us not discuss the foolishness of setting up that pre-order, as I am currently repeating said foolishness). Long story short: I made the deadline. And the book was… Read More
The First 200 Words Are The Hardest
Because I’m a nerd at heart. Also because humans are made of chemicals so this intrinsically makes sense to me. Translation for the non-nerds: There’s a thing called “activation energy” in chemistry (also applies to any couch you’re trying to move to find the remote)—it’s a lot harder to get the thing (say a reaction) going than to keep it… Read More
RESISTANCE: How to Overcome It
I’ve just lost two days to battling Resistance. I’m telling you this to 1- let you know that this still happens to writers who have been writing for years and have many novels under their belts and who consider themselves Highly Trained Resistance Fighters (TM pending), and 2 – to give you some insight into how I do battle. KEY… Read More
DRIVE and Indie Publishing, Part 2 – Turning Work into Play and Play into Work
“Once we realize that the boundaries between work and play are artificial, we can take matters in hand and begin the difficult task of making life more livable.” – DRIVE by Daniel Pink I write full-time, which I often call “playing full-time” but in reality, I have three teen boys and a husband and home and a life, and it’s… Read More
DRIVE and Indie Publishing – Part 1 – Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose
I have many thoughts about Daniel Pink’s book DRIVE and how its theories of motivation intersect with indie publishing. MANY THOUGHTS. So many I have to break this into parts. A PRIMER DRIVE is about Motivation 3.0 – the autonomy, mastery, and purpose that drives our intrinsic motivation to work, play, live, and create. Motivation 2.0 is your typical carrots-and-sticks… Read More
WRITE THE STORY
Sometimes, especially when I’m struggling with a story, I have to write myself notes to keep myself on-track. For some reason, I write them in ALL CAPS. I’m not sure if I’m yelling at myself, drill-sergeant-style, or if I simply want to differentiate them from the rambling prose and notes on either side of these clarion calls in my manuscript…. Read More