No matter how much you love a writing project — whether a novel, anthology of short fiction or poetry, memoir, screenplay, non-fiction book, series or course — sometimes after the initial buzz of inspiration and flurry of work, things shift. Maybe you hesitate because of doubt or that nagging feeling that what you’re doing is no good and that unease filters into your work.
Find Your Motivation & Increase Energy with These Ancient Techniques
Find your motivation and boost your energy levels with these ancient tools and techniques. Every writer and artist has days where their drive dips or motivation flags a little, when instead of being filled with creative splendour, they find themselves creatively stuck, unable to express much less motivate that expression. If struggling to find that discipline or drive, attending […]
Find Clarity & Presence with a Swift Meditation for Busy Creatives
If you’re feeling a little mentally clouded, a touch hazy in the head, and want to liberate yourself from this place, so you can get on with the work — with writing, creating, and making your art — one swift means to clarity and calm is to practice this simple meditation technique each time you feel overwhelmed, stressed-out or in […]
9 Ways to Make Peace with the Inner Critic
No matter if your creative confidence sings from rooftops or hides in the darkest garret, rise above the rantings of your critical voice and make peace with your inner critic with these techniques. Speak Kindly to Yourself “Every time you judge yourself, you hurt yourself,” as Brazilian lyricist and novelist, Paulo Coelho once said, a statement that is true on many levels, and […]
15 Ways to Fall in Love with Writing [All Over Again]
If your love for writing, much like our ebbing summer’s sky, has lost its glow, its colour, & warmth—try these tips to ensure you fall in love with writing again, no matter the weather outside. Just as we feel displaced as writers if we’re not writing, if we’re not regularly engaging with the act itself, if a specific story or […]
Happy Birthday Nina Simone [& a Brief Blog Hiatus]
Happy birthday, Miss Simone. Though unrelated to the exquisite Miss Simone’s birthday… You may have noticed that things have been a little too quiet in this portal of late, a little too light on posts and short on prose. I had hoped to be sharing something of value for you now, something edifying, inspiring, healing too, and a […]
Happy Birthday, Frida Kahlo—Arte, Amor, Dolor: Pain & the Healing Power of Art
“Nothing is worth more than laughter. It is strength to laugh and to abandon oneself, to be light. Tragedy is the most ridiculous thing,” said Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who was born on this day in 1907. In honour of her 110th birthday (though Frida preferred to state her birth year as 1910 — the start of the Mexican […]
Poetry | Tonight I Can Write (The Saddest Lines) By Pablo Neruda
Tonight I Can Write (The Saddest Lines) Tonight I can write the saddest lines. Write, for example, ‘The night is starry and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.’ The night wind revolves in the sky and sings. Tonight I can write the saddest lines. I loved her, and sometimes she loved me […]
15 Tools Inspired by Eastern Wisdom to Find Stillness in a Storm Part II
“Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realise it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate, or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become asource of beauty, joy, and strength, […]
Madeleine L’Engle on the 3 Most Important Things for Writers
“I have advice for people who want to write. I don’t care whether they’re 5 or 500. There are three things that are important: First, if you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you. Where you just put down what you think about life, what you think […]