Advice for Writers |

The Warrior’s Perspective

February 4, 2012 by Jamie

“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.” ― Carlos Castaneda If you pursue any kind of creative passion seriously, you will encounter difficult times. The trick is to see the lesson in the adversity. What does it have to teach you about your art? Plenty, if you pay attention.

Categories: Advice for Writers, Creativity, Quote of the Day, Random Stuff • Tags: adversity, carlos castaneda, creative passion

No Regrets?

February 3, 2012 by Jamie

Steven Pressfield never fails to offer up something worth reading. I especially love this quote from his blog: “You’ve read the same articles I have in the Sunday supplements that say on your deathbed you never regret the days you didn’t go in to the office. Bullshit. That’s not my world. I do regret those days. Norman Mailer toward the end of his life was asked if he had any regrets. The interviewer expected, I imagine, an answer like, “I […]

Categories: Advice for Writers, Quote of the Day

Driving in the Dark

February 1, 2012 by Jamie

“Writing is like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” –E.L. Doctorow That’s one of my favorite quotes about writing, because no matter how many times I see it or hear it quoted, I never cease to need the reminder. I want guarantees when I’m writing that the pages I write are part of a cohesive whole and that the destination will be worth arriving at. […]

Categories: Advice for Writers, Quote of the Day • Tags: creative process, famous quotes about writing, writer, writing

Writers’ Routines

January 30, 2012 by Jamie

This blog is a compilation of the daily routines of famous writers and artists. It makes for fascinating reading for those of us who care about such things. Check it out to see whose routine you most closely identify with and/or whose you can learn the most from: http://dailyroutines.typepad.com/daily_routines/ (Definitely smart to avoid the narcotics a few famous artists found so essential to their routines (until they crashed and burned).) What struck me immediately about the list is how many […]

Categories: Advice for Writers, Random Stuff • Tags: artist routines, time to write, writing, writing routine

It’s Try Something Different Day!

January 25, 2012 by Jamie

No, that’s not a real holiday. I just made it up. I got a new computer for Christmas, intending to use it only for photo editing and the general playing-with of photos. My little Macbook Air is wonderful in innumerable ways, especially for writing, but it doesn’t like big honking jpeg files being crammed by the thousand onto its hard drive. Nor does it like Photoshop Elements. Anyway, this new laptop is free of the psychological baggage that goes with […]

Categories: Advice for Writers, Procrastination

Quote of the Day: On Self-Doubt

January 24, 2012 by Jamie

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” ~Sylvia Plath Writers are notorious self-doubters. Putting our words out into the world feels a little like running naked through a crowd. It’s a powerful act to set aside one’s fears and write boldly. What have you got to lose? Every day you don’t write is a day you […]