“‘low-intensity’ negative moods are linked to better writing than happy moods.” via GOOD
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Posts tagged as:
Writing Life
Getting rid of a book is “like throwing away a plant. They feel sort of alive.” via Stacked Up; Writers show off their shelves
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
“Creative work is often driven by pain. It may be that if you don’t have something in the back of your head driving you nuts, you may not do anything. It’s not a good arrangement. If I were God, I wouldn’t have done it that way. Things I’ve written about are no longer of any [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
When Edward P. Jones spoke at Winter with the Writers at Rollins College a few years ago, he said he wrote The Known World in his head. I didn’t quite believe him then, but I think I believe him now. [washingtonpost.com]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
It occurs to me that I can be pretty clever making up reasons why I shouldn’t be writing. Perhaps my imagination can be put to better use. [read on...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
“Behind the scenes, many of these writers say they struggle with the daily work of writing, clocking thousands of solitary hours staring at blank pages and computer screens. Most agree on common hurdles: procrastination, writer’s block, the terror of failure that looms over a new project and the attention-sucking power of the Internet. [WSJ.com]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
“To sustain a state of high tension and desperation–you know, the kind the whole submission process usually creates–is not only physically exhausting, it’s creatively exhausting. It also makes us less likely to make wise decisions when we’re presented with opportunities. Paychecks aside–and let’s face it, even the best-paid among us would-be publishing/published peeps don’t make [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
This week, another gift from the sea.
“If the oyster had hands, there would be no pearl. Because the oyster is forced to live with the irritation for an extended period of time, the pearl comes to be…. Mistakes and accidents can be irritating grains that become pearls; they present us with unforeseen opportunities, they are [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I’m away on a little vacation, but I’m still thinking of you, and I remembered this remark by the great John Gardner, because I’m in sand-castle-building territory.
“The best way of all for dealing with writer’s block is never to get it. Some writers never do. Theoretically there’s no reason one should get it, if one [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I can play with sentences for hours and hours.
“There’s no reason you should write any novel quickly. There’s no reason you shouldn’t, as a writer, not be aware of the necessity to revise yourself constantly. More than a half, maybe as much as two-thirds of my life as a writer is rewriting. I wouldn’t [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
This year I resolved to be more lighthearted (not to be confused with less diligent or less thoughtful). It has been freeing and productive to take my writing (and my self) less seriously.
“Yes, writing can be complicated, exhausting, isolating, abstracting, boring, dulling, briefly exhilarating; it can be made to be grueling and demoralizing. And occasionally [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I don’t know about you, but I find it comforting when a famous author says that writing doesn’t come easily. Early success led Michael Cunningham to believe writing and publishing would continue to be easy for him. Then he struggled for years before he was published again. Talent and skill matter, but they don’t count [...]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
