If you find yourself unable to focus on your work or distracted by your thoughts, both your enjoyment of and the creative process itself can become a muddled affair. This can cause your motivation and therefore dedication for your creative projects to plummet, perhaps in turn affecting your creative confidence. Yet when your mind is balanced by attending […]
10 Writing Tips by Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is an acclaimed author of more than forty novels and countless short stories. She won the National Book Award for her novel, Them and has been thrice-nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Here she offers the following writing tips: Write your heart out. The first sentence can be written only after the last sentence has been […]
Writing Fiction: 10 Travel-Inspired Storytelling Techniques
Most people like to know where they are going, have a route, a map, when travelling or heading into the wilderness, and it is the same with storytelling. Yet, like travelling, sometimes the magic only happens when you deviate a little from the plan, let go, loosen up and allow yourself to write untethered by a […]
How to Beat Writer’s Block: 5 Ways to Face the Blank Page
Just as an artist wouldn’t be able to rework a blank canvas, a writer cannot edit a blank page. Making mistakes is part of the process; don’t smother your creativity out of fear and doubt. Everyone has ebbs and flows in their creativity. Just as bamboo is strong but bends and sways in the breeze, be flexible […]
Margaret Atwood’s Ten Tips for Writers
Margaret Atwood is widely known for her award-winning book, The Handmaid’s Tale. While she is mostly known as a novelist, she has also published many volumes of poetry, including poems inspired by myths and fairytales. Here she offers writers some practical [and perhaps not-so-practical] writing tips: 1. Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the […]
Find Instant Calm and Fresh Inspiration With This Beneficial Acupressure Sequence
Use this simple acupressure sequence to create instant calm and simultaneous a wake-up of inspiration. Combining these points creates clarity of mind, increased insight and focus and is also very nurturing and peaceful, stilling any internal chatter and allowing you to create unfettered by doubts or worries about anything beyond this present moment. All of which make […]
8 Ways to Reignite Your Passion for Writing and Write [Even If You Don’t Feel Like It]
In a brilliant interview in The Paris Review, E. B. White said, “A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.” To allow the seeds of inspiration grow into tiny shoots and push through the soil, like the magnificent miracles they are, you need to metaphorically water them […]
7 Powerful Yoga Asanas for Writers and Artists
Yoga does far more than stretch and tone the body. For writers and artists there are many benefits to having a regular practice. From on-the-spot relief from creative block and easing pains and tension, to reducing writing doubt and finding new inspiration, the following yoga asanas each hold special qualities that benefit writers and artists. Whatever the medium of your […]
The Tao of Creativity: Taoist Techniques to Help Your Writing and Art
Taoism at its core is about living life with harmony and ease, and with as much joy in the process as possible. Most people have heard of Tai Chi and Chi Kung but there are numerous techniques within the Taoist system that can help both you and your creativity to flourish. The following extended offering […]
Roddy Doyle’s Ten Rules for Writing Fiction
If you’ve never read any Roddy Doyle, you’re in for a treat. From the exquisite Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha to the more famous Commitments from The Barrytown Trilogy. Roddy has the ability to inhabit his characters so seamlessly that when I read The Woman Who Walked into Doors I was convinced the author was female. Then […]