1 Decide when in the day (or night) it best suits you to write, and organise your life accordingly. 2 Think with your senses as well as your brain. 3 Honour the miraculousness of the ordinary. 4 Lock different characters/elements in a room and tell them to get on. 5 Remember there is no such […]
Anne Enright’s Finest 10 Tips for Writing Fiction
In this humble offering before the next longer post, author Anne Enright, who was named the inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction for her novel, The Forgotten Waltz, and won the Man Booker Prize for her novel, The Gathering, shares ten writing tips gleaned from her fiction writing […]
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 […]
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 […]
Are You an Introverted Intuitive Writer? Why the 2 Most Common Pieces of Writing Advice Probably Won’t Work for You
Delighted to welcome the endlessly inspiring Lauren Sapala, novelist, author of The INFJ Writer & writing coach like no other. If you too are one of the rarest personality types, introverted, sensitive, even feeling a little misplaced in our extroverted world, read on to translate what you may have until now seen as flaws or hindrances to your writing into your […]
5 Essential Writing Habits I Learnt Ghost-Writing Bestsellers By Roz Morris
Delighted to welcome Roz Morris, novelist, speaker, writing coach, ghost-writer & author of the inspired Nail Your Novel series, with her 5 essential writing habits to inspire your process & prose. Before I ever had a byline of my own on a book, I wrote books for others. I’m a novelist, speaker, blogger and writing coach, but as well […]
Vulnerability In Fiction: Teaching Jaded Characters How To Trust By Angela Ackerman
Delighted to welcome Angela Ackerman of Writers Helping Writers & One Stop For Writers, writing coach, speaker, & co-author of many bestselling resources, including one of my all-time favourite fiction writing book series, which if you’ve been in your writer’s garret for the last few years, are so invaluable, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without. Here Angela offers her potent & equally invaluable writing tips on vulnerability […]
A. L. Kennedy’s 10 Rules for Writing Fiction
A. L. Kennedy’s 10 Rules for Writing Fiction These writing tips were gleaned from an interview A. L. Kennedy gave to the Guardian. Writer and performer, Alison Louise “A. L.” Kennedy is the author of 17 books: 6 literary novels, 1 science fiction novel, 7 short story collections, and 3 works of non-fiction. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and […]
George Saunders’ Short Animated Documentary on the Art of Storytelling
“A good story is one that says, at many different levels, ‘we’re both human beings, we’re in this crazy situation called life, that we don’t really understand. Can we put our heads together and confer about it a little bit at a very high, non-bullshitty level?’ Then, all kinds of magic can happen.” ~ George Saunders […]