(2 min read.) Writing consistently isn’t about showing up every day. It’s about always coming back to the page, no matter how long you’ve been gone, because the page is home. Your brain wants consistency. On a neurological level, the brain finds inconsistency alarming or… Read More »On Writing Consistently
(1 min read.) I’m not writing today. This blog post was written and scheduled days ago. Today, I’m with my loved ones and I’m eating snacks and taking naps. My projects are languishing on a hard drive, no new words are getting written, and nothing… Read More »I’m not writing.
(3 min read.) There’s as much creative writing advice on the internet as there is plastic in the polluted ocean. As a writing coach, I see this doing damage. I’m not against advice. On this blog alone I’ve got dozens of practical strategies, big and… Read More »Overwhelmed by Creative Writing Advice? (It’s a vibe.)
(5 min read) If you’re a perfectionist writer, I want to tell you right now that it doesn’t have to f*ckin’ matter. You can keep all your perfectionist tendencies and still be productive, make work that’s beloved, and (like me) even have a professional writing… Read More »Practical Tips for the Perfectionist Writer (I really live this way.)
(3 min read.) If you can read this, it might be time. (I’ll take this post down once we’ve succeeded.) It’s our job to save the world. By writing. And I don’t mean some touchy-feely “creativity helps us save ourselves” hand-knit pottery crap, I mean… Read More »Ooops, It’s Time To Save the World by Writing?
(5 min read.) Perfectionism is awesome. I’m a professional writing coach and I heart perfectionists. Being perfect is not an unattainable standard. Some of us ARE perfect. (At least some of the time.) People have made perfect books. There will be more perfect poems. There… Read More »I Love Perfectionists (Perfectionism is not a Problem)
(7 min read.) We are writing in hard times. It’s 2024. The dog is barking, the oceans are boiling, fascism is gnawing on our doorknob, income disparity hasn’t been this bad since before the French Revolution, low-rise jeans are back, and there are at least… Read More »This Matters (Writing in Hard Times)
(5 min read.) This is the truth about how I write, plus something at the end that might help you write, too. “What’s your creative process like? What’s your creative writing process?” The creative writing process is not the same for everyone, but we can… Read More »How I Write (Oops, my actual creative writing process.)
(2 mins) Don’t give up. If you’re writing and you don’t love what’s on the page, don’t give up. (If you feel like you might, read this writing pep talk instead.) Keep going until you love what you’ve made. Writing is a process. Sometimes it… Read More »don’t give up (writing pep talk)
why does the world exist? Does the world exist to be loved by us? Or does the sun hurt our eyes to teach us to keep our filthy eyes off the sun? (I’m just asking questions.) Why do you think the world exists? Have you… Read More »why does the world exist?
(2 min read.) I’m publishing 100 blog posts in 2024. All of them will be about how to write more, how to write better, or why to write at all. You can read them at howtowritesomething.com/blog Most Mondays and Wednesdays at 9am PT. If you’d… Read More »100 Blog Posts in 2024 (100 valentines for my friends)