The Necessary Review

A review of progress helps us gauge our growth. We become lost in our own development. Shortcomings are easier for us to see in real time. Growth is not.

Journaling serves this purpose. A journal helps writers become all the more accustomed to the act of writing…

This is the Life We Have Chosen

This is a solitary life we have chosen.

Winning vs. Losing

It is easy to become enamored with winning. It feels good. It makes us feel special.

But losing, losing is where the hidden treasure is.

Winning shows others who we are. Losing shows us who we are. We are forced to face ourselves and our work.

The Questions

They arise during the bursts of creation and during those quiet moments. These are the holes.

Readers

How do you know when a story is finished? When a story has been revised and edited to the best of your ability?

Readers.

Share your work once it has progressed to the point where you are proud of what has been accomplished. Never before.

The Joy

There is a joy in the time taken to do a weekly review of work completed. All of the hardships, all of the struggles, all of the words brought forth by sheer will — are forgotten.

The feelings, anyway.

Side Something

The blog is a side thing, not a hustle or gig.

It exists as a complement to the real work to be done.

Writing about interests is satisfying but never as satisfying as doing the work that you are writing about.

It is what it is…

The Cost

Time is a finite resource. There will always be sacrifice. Spending hours on end working, creating, writing and neglecting those around you takes a toll.

The art might improve — it will — but is it worth the cost?

Leaving the Page

One way to feel comfortable away from your writing is to give the work its deserved attention while dealing with the blank page.

If not, feelings of anxiety and doubt develop while away from the work.

Discipline Learned

Our interests give clues to our discipline.

Discipline learned in one area can be applied to all areas.

Everyone has demonstrated discipline in something.

Now you know.

Vacation and Ambition

When are writers ever on vacation?

It is a cruel fact of life that those of us who pursue a creative art are usually forced to support ourselves with a day job. We make time, either early in the morning or late at night, to get an hour or two in of our “true” work…

The Unwritten

Unwritten words will always seem better than the words on the page.

The In-between

There is a limbo in-between projects.

Writing any type of narrative is involved and time consuming. And yet, there is peace that comes with the routine, of just getting to the following page.

For the Love and Nothing Else

We write because we love it. At least we should…

A lot of people may love the idea of being a writer. Accolades call. It’s easy to imagine the inflated lifestyle of a celebrity author.

Small Victories

On days where the only thing that matters is page count the quality has to give way to quantity.

Quantity is the only thing you can be sure of.

Each word, each sentence is fought for.

Every letter is a victory.

Finding Improvement Where You Can

Other creative pursuits are a way to help focus the writing mind by giving it time to rest.

They also allow us to see our own artistic progression in another medium. If we begin to draw every day, keeping a record, we will see growth.

Knowing Our Work

At a small crêpe shop a woman asks the owner for whipped cream. The owner replies that he never uses whipped cream, and they don’t carry it.

The woman, perplexed, says: “Everybody else has whipped cream.”

Pages are the Measurement

Pages accumulate.

That is the only guarantee we have in this life of writing. If you work, then pages will add up. The writing will not be to your standards at the beginning. That is to be expected.

The Beauty of Keeping At It

Pretty soon you have built a collection of works in progress. Sooner or later one of them will be finished, making room in the rotation.

A lot of times it is us that has to grow into the story.

Experience isn’t gained in any other way but practice.

Again and Again

Any creative pursuit is just that, a pursuit. There is nothing mystical about it. Pursuing creativity requires only time. Give time to it and progression will occur. It is the only guarantee those of us who have chosen this path have. Whether writing or drawing, the defining factor is repeatedly…

Which Focus?

Marketing strategy is essential for aspiring authors.

Be careful that strategy takes more attention than the real work at hand.

Focus on creating. Quality will sell itself.

Reminders

Everyday reminders need to exist on paper, acting as a record.

It may seem trivial, but externalizing with the act of writing makes the goal more real. Your brain, now freed from its cognitive load, can focus on the steps forward.

Get it all down on paper.

Blank Witnesses

Opening the day with a notebook sets the tone for the rest of the day. A blank page inspires focus. It’s on us to fill it. Our words are a testament to our work, and the blank page our witness.

The World Tells Its Secrets

Daydreaming and being out in the world is needed for creativity. It is part of life as a whole.

The work beckons and always will. If it is the true calling and you have no choice then that urge always exists.

The Decision

Forcing ideas is necessary.

Living a life constantly inspired would be exhausting. It would be like a marriage lived with the same intensity of those first months of unrestricted passion.

The Emotion in the Storm

The ending.

Enthusiasm Is What Carries Us Through

It is inevitable that enthusiasm fades — how exhausting, otherwise?

But the beauty of the process is the rekindling of enthusiasm for our work through other means.

Like Learning How To Swim All Over Again

Drafting is the hardest part of the writing process. It is the most creative. This is…

It Is Always the Beginning

The clues for a passion are present in your childhood.

We have all heard the saying: What would you do if money were no object? Whatever the answer is, that is your passion.

A Convenient Collection

We are all collections of stories.

These collections are made up of stories we tell ourselves and stories that others tell about us.

A family is a story. A story bound by blood but a story nonetheless. A common origin is nothing more…

The Page

The mornings spent in notebooks, deep in the pages, are always more creative and productive.

The keyboard and the screen are excellent productivity tools. Pages accumulate rapidly once you are decent at typing. But there is something about the page that inspires another type of…