It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Welcome to the wild winter word marathon known as National Novel Writing Month. Over the next thirty days, thousands of ambitious writers will churn out 50,000 words apiece to earn nothing but bragging rights, a hearty case of sleep deprivation, and hopefully part of a messy first … Continue reading Tips, Tricks, and Tools for NaNoWriMo Fast Drafting
Tag: creativity
Feeds Don’t Nourish Me: Social Media and Creativity
Social media is overrated for creators. There, I said it. Surprised to hear this from me? I am too, a bit. I spent the last year or so learning how to use social media to promote my books, even sharing a few how-to posts here. Lately, though, I’ve done a lot of reflection on my … Continue reading Feeds Don’t Nourish Me: Social Media and Creativity
Refilling the Wellspring: 7 Remedies for Creative Drain
Creativity is a renewable resource—but that doesn’t mean that it’s inexhaustible. Without sustainable use, the creative well tends to run dry, resulting in burnout or writer’s block. This post will address the need to maintain your creative reserves and suggest some ways to refill the well when you’re feeling drained, blocked, or out of ideas. … Continue reading Refilling the Wellspring: 7 Remedies for Creative Drain
Writers, We Need to Talk About Creative Burnout
This summer, I burned out. I touched on this in my post last week with a few brief paragraphs about why I'd disappeared from most of my online platforms. Part of me wanted to leave it at that, but even as I kept my personal update short, I knew I had more to say. After … Continue reading Writers, We Need to Talk About Creative Burnout
Make Creative Space: Shifting Gears to Slow My Roll
Hi, my name is Erin, and I'm bad at taking breaks. Notoriously bad at it. I am anything but a role model for self-care, no matter how many posts I write about it, trying to convince myself otherwise. Exhibit 1: I am about to write a blog post about how I'm giving myself a break … Continue reading Make Creative Space: Shifting Gears to Slow My Roll
Don’t Let Craft Advice Silence Your Authorial Voice
The internet is full of craft advice for writers. Some of it is even good advice. All of it purports to make your writing better, more readable, more relatable, more salable. I’m not talking about grammar advice, like how to punctuate dialogue. That’s a mechanical skill. It’s mostly objective, at least within its specific context … Continue reading Don’t Let Craft Advice Silence Your Authorial Voice
Growth Is a Spiral: Repetition and Return in Practice
The more things stay the same, the more they change. What? No, I didn't accidentally write that backwards. Because the thing about growth, about learning, is that it doesn’t travel in a straight line. It often doesn’t feel like growth in the moment. It often feels circular, like repetition, like return. It can feel like … Continue reading Growth Is a Spiral: Repetition and Return in Practice
The Publishing Industry Is Not Okay. Now What?
This is the house that oligopoly built... When I originally set out to blog on this topic two weeks ago, I intended to write an explainer of WHY publishing is not okay. My first draft focused on professional burnout, the oligopoly of the Big Four, disruptive technology, and how labor exploitation lines the pockets of … Continue reading The Publishing Industry Is Not Okay. Now What?
Here Be Dragons: Outlining for Discovery Writers
If the prospect of outlining a new project make you want to run away to sea, you’re not alone. While some writers swear by extensive planning, others despise it. And some aspire to plan ahead, but find themselves uninspired by the process. The age-old split between plotters and pantsers may leave many in the latter … Continue reading Here Be Dragons: Outlining for Discovery Writers
Relearning My Mind: ADHD and My Writing Journey
Welcome to my brain circus! It’s Disability Awareness Month, and I’m a writer with Attention Deficit Disorder. That makes this as good a time as any to share my experience of learning late in life that I'm neurodivergent, how my diagnosis has shifted my self-image, and how adjusting my brain chemicals has brought new ease … Continue reading Relearning My Mind: ADHD and My Writing Journey