Be Fearless! Become a Professional and Successful Writer

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          My professional life has gotten very busy. I’m editing and indexing a book for publication in early spring as well as working on a book I’m co-authoring with Cheryl L. Butler, co-founder of this blog. Add to that a few other freelance projects, this blog, and my day job of editing and writing for two publications and I’m very busy indeed.

          There are so many opportunities for writers these days as an employee, a freelancer and, best of all, as your own boss!

          Whatever your dreams, be fearless!

You have to be able to write on demand to meet deadlines. Have great ideas for articles and follow through with interviews and/or finish the book you are always talking about and get it published.

Write. Rewrite. Polish. Publish. If you are a writer, those are the job requirements to make a living doing what you love.

          Practical ways to achieve your dreams:

I recommend reading:

 Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write with Confidence by William Kenower is essential for every writer. Inspiring. Motivating. Supportive. Fantastic! (Please see my reviews of this book on this blog.)

          Ensouling Language: On the Art of Nonfiction and the Writer’s Life by Stephen Harrod Buhner. Read it for the sheer beauty of his written words as well as his remarkable thoughts—a fabulous beacon for anyone on a writer’s path.

          The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield will keep writer’s block away. Whenever I’m not inspired to write, I flip it open and read a page or two then I’m raring to write again without fail. I most love his encouraging and inspiring essay “The Artist’s Life” on page 165—which I think should have been the first in his book because it’s essential for writer’s to know and believe in it.

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg will get you thinking and writing. Follow her routine of filling a spiral notebook every month. I’ve been doing this for well over a decade. I have no fear of the blank page because I face it every day in this low-key way.

          I recommend writing:

          Fill a spiral notebook a month as recommended by Natalie Goldberg in her book recommended above. Upside—no fear of blank pages. It's a private way to improve your writing and capture ideas fearlessly.

Start a blog on any topic of interest so you write regularly—never missing a deadline. Gain an audience. Get feedback. Improve your writing fearlessly.

          Take a writing class. I did and besides learning more about the writing craft, I met the new owner of a local magazine there. This led to an internship, then a staff writing position, then Assistant Editor, then Editor, then Editor of two publications, then three, then four. Then all the freelance work I’ve done—and soon a published book—all because I was brave enough to go to one writing class and willing to work hard and fearlessly.

          Cheryl wrote her first book, Pregnant Women Don’t Eat Cabbage, for one hour each Saturday (all the time she could spare while raising eight children) until completed. She was brave and did some public speaking events. In the audience one night was a woman from Macmillan Publishing. A while later when the current Mighty Mommy left, this woman remembered Cheryl and recommended her to become the company’s Mighty Mommy columnist and podcaster—all because Cheryl pursued her writing dream fearlessly!
.

Amazon has certainly opened up opportunities for authors. I have several friends working on books they plan to publish through Amazon. A friend of one of these friends has published both through a traditional publisher and Amazon, and she prefers Amazon as she has full control over the cover and content and receives more of the profits. Publish fearlessly.

Be fearless! That’s what it takes to be a professional and successful writer!

Creative Deadline

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          I just completed another short writing project, but still have many other unfinished projects I’m working on. Why is completing creative projects so challenging? 

          In my case, it comes down to time and deadlines. I meet all professional writing deadlines, but for my projects without “real” deadlines I don’t always make enough time in my schedule.

          Also, I’m a queen of writing short pieces (under 1,500 words). I can get those done in seemingly no time as long as a deadline is looming. 

          However, I want to know what I have to say in longer formats. The only way to discover the answer is to write past my longest word count—about 10,000 words—and see where I end up.

While rereading Steven Pressfield’s essay “The Artist’s Life” on page 165 of his book The War of Art, I’m now inspired by this creative deadline:

“…Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.”

That’s a deadline I’m excited to meet.

Favorite Book Recommendation for Writers

From Kate’s Writing Crate…


(Please see posts dated October 30, 2017 and November 6, 2017 as I have updated my recommendation. I still love The War of Art, but if I can only pick one, it would be Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write with Confidence by William Kenower)

          I recommended over 80 books or series in my post on September 18, 2017. Some of the questions I answered wanted only one book listed, but I shared two or three or more because there are so many excellent books to read.

          When I talked to a new writer recently, she asked me to recommend the best book to get her started on either her children’s book or her non-fiction book. Pinned down, I still couldn’t recommend one book. I told her The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Battles by Steven Pressfield (excellent for writers at every level) and Writing Down the Bones (excellent for new writers) by Natalie Goldberg.

          She told me she could only afford to buy one so I had to choose. I said The War of Art because overcoming resistance is the most difficult part of any project. It applies to writing and all creative projects especially because society does not usually support them so there are more battles to fight.

This book is not a step-by-step writing instruction manual. It’s a kick-you-in-the-pants, there-are-no-excuses-not-to-write book. (One note: read page 165 first. If I had been the editor of this book, “The Artist’s Life” would have been on page 1. It’s the most important thing to remember as you create and write.)

As I have written in other posts, I have three copies: one by my desk where I work, one in my informal writing spot, and one in the car so I’m motivated to write every moment especially if I am early for an appointment, if my appointment person is running late, or, sadly, if the car breaks down.

Time is in short supply for writers so put every moment you can to good use. Carry a pen and a notebook or 3 x 5 cards with you at all times. Again I don’t limit myself to one. I carry three or four pens in my purse and at least two in the car. I have a notebook in my purse and another in the car.

If you want to write, then be ready to jot down ideas and observations at any moment, but you also have to put in the hours and hours to hone your craft and find your voice. Inspiration is great, but it’s best to meet your muse on the page as your write regularly.

Getting the words down on paper or screen is was it takes to be published. Rewrites will take care of mistakes so don’t worry about them until later. Write whenever and wherever you can.

Once you are a professional writer, you need to meet deadlines so you still need to be motivated by a kick in the pants. Open The War of Art to any page and you will be back to writing after reading a few pages—sometimes only one!

Writing profusely and regularly is what it takes to become an author or successful in any writing career.

Start now!

Word Counts for a Working Writer

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          As a working writer, I write almost every day. Deadline for the magazines lasts three days each month so I’m too busy then, otherwise I write.

          Filling a notebook a month is the best way to stay on track. Use an 80-100 page notebook as recommended by Natalie Goldberg in Writing Down the Bones. If you write about three pages every day, you’ll fill the notebook. If you don’t, then you will have a lot of pages to fill at the end of the month.

          In January, I had company as well as deadline. Because I wrote only a few paragraphs or a page or two each day, the last week of the month I had to fill 40 pages—which I did. My word count for that week was over 12,000 which also included a blog post and facebook thoughts for the magazines. I had to write fast to meet my monthly notebook deadline.

          Learning to write fast is essential for a working writer. Get all your thoughts down on paper as quickly as you can. This leaves you more time to rewrite, organize, make corrections, and polish your words—the real work of a professional working writer.

The initial act of writing is wild, spontaneous, exciting. When you reread what you wrote, you might not even remember some of these thoughts as they came so fast. Good. Those thoughts are what you really think without any filters. Work with them.

As I wrote in my post on 3/9/15:

 I think anyone interested in becoming a writer should read Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, and Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity by Ray Bradbury.

These books will also energize anyone who is already a writer. I often pick one of them up, flip open to a random page, read for a while then jump into writing.

           In Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury not only encourages writing, he also shares his story of becoming a writer then working hard to become a better writer. Read his work. His dedication and creativity are astounding.

He’s inspiring—hard not to be when he begins his essay “The Joy of Writing” on page 3 with:

Zest. Gusto. How rarely one hears these words used. How rarely do we see people living, or for that matter, creating by them. Yet if I were asked to name the most important items in a writer’s make-up, the things that shape his material and rush him along the road to where he wants to go, I could only warn him to look to his zest, see to his gusto.

          Bradbury notes on page 13:

In quickness is truth. The faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are. In hesitation is thought. In delay comes the effort for a style, instead of leaping upon the truth which is the only style worth deadfalling or tiger-trapping.

Tiger-trapping. How exciting that makes writing sound! We are brave. Capturing truth. Following wherever our creativity leads us. Zest and gusto indeed!

Write with zest and gusto in a monthly notebook no one else will ever read. You’ll surprise yourself as well as come up with ideas for writing projects. I’ve written many essays and blog posts on thoughts I might never have discovered without scribbling in my notebooks which I take with me everywhere—like Natalie Goldberg, I carry a notebook-sized purse. Writing in public is inspiring in a different way than writing at home. Write wherever you are.

Word counts do matter. Not only in meeting specifications for projects, but quantity leads to quality. In filling these notebooks, you’ll find your voice, your rhythm, and your ability to meet deadlines no matter how short—all hallmarks of a working writer.

My word count for February 5-11 was 7,287.

Writing Advice from an Editor to an Intern

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          I didn’t set out to become an editor. I wanted to be a successful writer working from home. I became both after years of writing then taking a writing class where I met the woman who just bought one of the magazines I now write for and edit.

I started out as an unpaid intern for the magazines. I wrote articles as well as learned about copyediting (turning press releases and items sent in by the public about meetings and events into style copy for the magazine issue), layouts (placing headlines, bylines, copy, ads, pull quotes, photos, and captions on each page), proofreading (using the correct proofreaders’ marks), and all the little things to check in an effort to publish an almost perfect issue (something always goes wrong).

A few years later, I became the editor of one then two magazines—a job I love.

Now I’m working with an intern who wants to be a writer and an editor. I’m happy to share my knowledge and experience with her; however, writing skills are more straightforward to teach than editing skills. My writing advice is posted now. My advice for editing will be posted on October 17, 2016.

Here is my writing advice:                                                                        

                             

To be a better writer, write. It’s just that simple. There is never enough time to write. You must make the time to write. Get up early. Stay up late. Write anytime you are waiting for someone or something. Writers write! Jot down thoughts and sentence fragments, plots, and ideas in a notebook or record on phone. 

If you want to be a professional writer, learn to write on demand, not wait for inspiration, by writing to deadlines. Filling a notebook a month as recommended by Natalie Goldberg in Writing Down the Bones is a great way to start. Write a concise weekly blog—300-500 words—without fail. Write three pages every morning as recommended by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way. If really short on time, write Six-Word Memoirs®. (See books by the same title or visit Smith Magazine online.)

Take writing classes or join a writing group. Deadlines and feedback are essential.

“It is easy to lose sight of the fact that writers do not write to impart knowledge to others, rather, they write to inform themselves.”   –Judith Guest

Choose a magazine you enjoy reading. Write an article following its style (topic, word count, tone, etc.). Write about what you love. Learn from the best as you can interview experts or participants in whatever topics interest you. Write your first drafts without thought to the word count. Then rewrite your articles repeatedly. Final articles should be your best work including all the points you wanted to make as well as meeting the word counts. Submit articles for publication.

“Don't market yourself. Editors and readers don't know what they want until they see it. Scratch what itches. Write what you need to write, feed the hunger for meaning in your life.”     –Donald M. Murray

Write with abandon then rewrite by writing concisely.

“Nothing you write, if you hope to be any good, will ever come out as you first hope.”   –William Hellman

For reference: on average, I spend 35-40% of my time writing and 60-65% rewriting pieces for publication. I rewrite my articles five, six, ten times until I’m satisfied it’s the best I can do. Read pieces aloud to catch mistakes.

“Writing is really rewriting—making the story better, clearer, truer.” –Robert Lipsyte

“Look for verbs of muscle, adjectives of exactitude.”  --Mary Oliver in Blue Pastures on page 89.

Meet all deadlines, no matter what, as professional writers and editors won’t work for long if they don’t.

Also, read everything. A better reader is a better writer.

Read writing books. I have recommended many on this blog (see partial list at end of this post), especially The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

All knowledge makes you a better writer (and editor). I read all genres as good writers make any genre or topic interesting. I also read books about philosophy, science, space, and art as well as classic novels and bestsellers.

“You learn to write by reading and writing, writing and reading. As a craft, it's acquired through the apprentice system, but you choose your own teachers. Sometimes they're alive, sometimes they're dead.”  –Margaret Atwood

Read often and widely including poetry to get a feel for words, language, flow, and rhythm.

Poetry is essential. Ray Bradbury makes this recommendation to writers on page 36 of Zen in the Art of Writing:

Read poetry every day of your life…it flexes muscles you don’t use often enough…it expands the senses and keeps them in prime condition.

Reading expands your vocabulary, too. Look up every word new-to-you for future reference. Write these words and definitions in your notebooks so you remember them.

Make sure the words you use (or edit) mean what you think they mean otherwise you look foolish. Once in print, it is out there forever so take the time to refer to a dictionary, RefDesk.com, or the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus. Use correct punctuation and grammar, too.  

For writers (and editors), words are our medium. Spend as much time as possible reading and writing.

“…writing is finally sitting alone in a room and wrenching it out of yourself, and nobody can teach you that.”       –Jon Winokur

Writing Book Recommendations: 

(I have reviewed most of these books on this blog. Dates of posts are in parentheses.)

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield  (8/30/12)

Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield  (9/9/13)

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg  (5/6/13; 1/12/14)

The Right to Write and The Writer’s Life by Julia Cameron  (5/6/13; 1/12/14)

Invisible Ink by Brian McDonald  (6/26/16)

The Golden Rule by Brian McDonald  (7/25/16)

The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase by Mark Forsyth  (2/23/15)

The Writer’s Home Companion edited by Joan Bolker, Ed. D.  (12/3/12)

Blue Pastures by Mary Oliver  (3/21/16; 4/4/16)

Zen and the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury  (3/9/15)

For Writer’s Only by Sophy Burnham  (12/17/12)

The Writing Life by Ellen Gilchrist  (7/21/14)

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild (1/28/13)    

Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes  (1/11/16)

Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block (will be reviewed)

The Book on Writing by Paula LaRocque (will be reviewed)

The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop by Stephen Koch  (8/5/13)

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (5/6/13)

A Writer’s Paris: A Guided Journey for the Creative Soul by Eric Maisel  (5/25/15)

Fiction Writing Master Class by William Cane (9/7/15)

The Soul of Creative Writing by Richard Goodman 10/19/15)

Backpack Literature by XJ Kennedy and Dana Gioia (4^th post each month, September 2016-April 2017)

On Writing by Stephen King—needs no review

Write Within Yourself: An Author’s Companion by William Kenower  (8/8/16)

The Writing Trade by John Jerome (1/14/13)

Poetry:

Mary Oliver  (4/28/14) I read all her books.

Billy Collins  (4/22/13) I read all his books.

Anthologies & classic poetry

Knowledge:

A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman. (5/27/13) I recommend all of her books.

At Home by Bill Bryson. I read all his books.  (12/24/12; 1/26/15)

Books by Joseph Campbell & The Art of Reflection: A Joseph Campbell Companion by Diane K. Osbon

Memoirs:

Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir by Beth Kephart  (8/26/13)

Let’s Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell  (9/29/14)

On Conan Doyle by Michael Dirda  (11/23/15)

Six-Word Memoirs edited by Larry Smith  (9/10/12)

Essays:

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman (11/26/12)

This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett (5/26/14) Title of an essay, not subject of book.

High Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver (7/22/13)

A Cup of Comfort for Writers edited by Colleen Sell  (5/11/15)

Screenplays:

Screenplay by Robin Russin and William Missouri Downs  (8/10/15)

On Story: Screenwriters and Their Craft edited by Barbara Morgan and Maya Perez  (6/6/16)

Reference:

Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus (6/9/14)

The Synonym Finder by J I Rodale  (6/9/14)

Grammar and punctuation books

Online:   

Are You There Blog? It’s Me Writer by Kristen Lamb, award-winning blog warriorwriters.wordpress.com.

Steven Pressfield, blog Writing Wednesdays at www.stevenpressfield.com.

Reads for Writers: Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is And What You Can Do About It by Steven Pressfield

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

Normally this week’s post would be an essay on writing, but I just finished Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is And What You Can Do About It by Steven Pressfield. It’s a perfect companion to last week’s writing book recommendation Invisible Ink by Brian McDonald.

I’ve been a fan of Steven Pressfield since I read The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles. I reviewed it on this blog in my first post on 8/30/12. It’s the book that turned me into a professional writer. Do yourself a favor and read it, then reread it.

In Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t, Pressfield recounts how he became a writer as well as sharing all the truths he learned about writing along the way. Like McDonald in Invisible Ink, Pressfield uses movies and TV shows to illustrate his points—showing, not just telling—because using a story structure works for any genre that you want to appeal to an audience.

                    Why?

Because a story (whether it’s a movie, a play, a novel, or a piece of nonfiction) is experienced by the reader on the level of the soul. And the soul has a universal structure of narrative receptors…

The soul judges a story’s truth by how closely it comports to the narrative templates that are a part of our psyche from birth… (pp. 63-64)

          For his screenplays, Pressfield recommends: Start with an Inciting Incident, deal with the villain, then transformation of the hero completes the story.

How can you tell when you’ve got a good Inciting Incident? When the movie’s climax is embedded in within it. (page 75). Followed by chapters: “The Second Act Belongs to the Villain” (pp. 76-77) and “Every Character Must Represent Something Greater Than Himself” (pp.78-79) to set the story. Chapters “Write for a Star” (pp. 94-95); “The All is Lost Moment” (page 104); and “Give Your Villain a Brilliant Speech” (pp. 108-109) round out your work.

          Pressfield discusses his “overnight success” when he publishes his first novel at the age of fifty-one on pp. 120-121. Here he lists nine storytelling secrets followed by a list of ten skills he learned in twenty-seven years of writing.

          His chapter “Fiction is Truth” on page 122 is essential reading as are “Narrative Device” on pp. 124-125 and “Novels are Dangerous” on pp. 128-129.

          From fiction, Pressfield moves to nonfiction in “A Non-Story is a Story” including a list of eight universal principles of storytelling (pp 148-149) and to self-help in “Flashback: Narrative Device in The War of Art” (172-173) and “Flashback: Hero and Villain in The War of Art” on page 174 to reveal how many of the same principles apply.

In The Artist’s Calling section, I loved “There is a Muse” on page 181 and “The Artist’s Skill” on page 184.

I also read and love Steven Pressfield’s blog, Writing Wednesdays, too.

I just started reading Brian McDonald’s blog, Ink Spots—also the title of another of his books.

Celebrating Third Blog Anniversary---Have Fun Starting Your Own Blog

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          The Writer’s Crate is celebrating its third anniversary. I’ve written another 52 posts—well 54 if I count an updated post and a blog alert to read Kristen Lamb’s posts on her WarriorWriters blog. (After seven years, she was ranked as the #12 best writing blog by Writer’s Digest earlier this year so I highly recommend her posts.)

Since this blog is all about encouraging writing, I also highly recommend starting your own blog. Deadlines keep you writing. Set a goal to write posts for a year. See where all that writing takes you. Plus it’s creative and fun!

You may only be read by friends and family at first, but if you stick to it and your writing style and topics are good your audience will increase. Kristen Lamb went two years before one post got more than 50 readers. Now she has tens of thousands. She also started a series of online writing workshops with other authors to encourage her readers to become authors. Kristen published her third book this year.

The key to my blog success is planning posts and writing them in advance. I have a running list of all the posts I have written so I don’t repeat myself as well as ideas for the next few months. Usually, I write my posts and schedule them for publication three weeks or more in advance. This way, if I get sick or have an unexpected crisis, the blog goes on without any stress on my part.

As new ideas come to mind, I slot them into my schedule. Sometimes they are seasonal so I may not write them for months. Sometimes I write them when the ideas are fresh and save the completed posts until the appropriate time. Sometimes ideas are timely so I reorganize the publishing dates to fit it in earlier—all good problems to have since a new idea is required weekly!

I also find writing posts in batches helps. Once I’m in the writing groove, it’s easier to keep going. This makes my running list of future posts indispensable. I don’t have to think up new ideas on the fly although sometimes I do. I can just look at my list, choose a topic, and start writing.

The subconscious is an amazing tool for writers. It’s always working—inspiration by day while writing, doing chores, taking a shower, etc. and in dreams at night. Any idea I’ve added to my list has been bubbling in the back of my mind so when I start to write I have something to say. It feels a bit magical when words come pouring out.

If you want to be a writer, just write. Fill a spiral notebook a month as recommended by Natalie Goldberg in Writing Down the Bones. Read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield to overcome resistance. Start you own Personal Writing Class as I recommended in my post on 6/1/15.

Whatever inspires you, follow your dream and write!

Thanks for reading The Writer’s Crate. Here’s to the next 52 posts!

 

Plan to Write!

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

Summer means more sunshine and, therefore, longer days. Does this equate to more writing time? Only if you plan for it.

          If you have children, maybe they’re going to day- or sleepaway camps. At the very least, hopefully, they will be playing outside more. There’s some good writing time during the day and some at night as the kids should be tired and go to bed earlier or maybe they will sleep in.

I read in a magazine about three couples who rented one cabin for six weeks. All of their kids stayed at the cabin for the entire six weeks. However, the couples stayed one at a time spending their two weeks’ vacation in fun chaos there, but the other payoff was a month at home childfree—plenty of time to rest, relax, and write!

Now plan a summer writing schedule taking into account your significant others and your responsibilities. Your writing schedule should be reasonable. You can always write more, but you don’t want to over plan and then feel like you failed.

Your writing time is your own. Write using a laptop or notebook on a deck or patio, or under trees, or on a beach, or poolside, or at cafés, or at your desk—whatever feels right for you. The important thing is to write.

I highly recommend having a copy of The War of Art: Breakthrough the Blocks and Win Your Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield nearby. Having trouble getting started? Randomly open and read this book until you are inspired. I have a copy in every place I write. (See posts on 8/30/12, 12/2/13, and 12/17/12.)

Plan to write!

Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity by Ray Bradury

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          I think anyone interested in becoming a writer should read Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, and Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity by Ray Bradbury.

These books will also energize anyone who is already a writer. I often pick one of them up, flip open to a random page, read for a while then jump into writing.

          In Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury not only encourages writing, he also shares his story of becoming a writer then working hard to become a better writer. Read his work. His dedication and creativity are astounding.

He’s inspiring—hard not to be when he begins his essay “The Joy of Writing” on page 3 with:

Zest. Gusto. How rarely one hears these words used. How rarely do we see people living, or for that matter, creating by them. Yet if I were asked to name the most important items in a writer’s make-up, the things that shape his material and rush him along the road to where he wants to go, I could only warn him to look to his zest, see to his gusto.

          Bradbury notes on page 13:

In quickness is truth. The faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are. In hesitation is thought. In delay comes the effort for a style, instead of leaping upon the truth which is the only style worth deadfalling or tiger-trapping.

Tiger-trapping. How exciting that makes writing sound! We are brave. Capturing truth. Following wherever our creativity leads us. Zest and gusto indeed!

However, sometimes writing is a quieter craft as seen in one of my favorite essays, “How to Keep and Feed a Muse” on page 31. On pages 32 & 33, Bradbury states:

…to keep a Muse, you must first offer food. How you can feed something that isn’t there is a little hard to explain. But we live surrounded by paradoxes…

…in a lifetime, we stuff ourselves with sounds, sights, smells, tastes, and textures of people, animals, landscapes, events…These are the stuffs, the foods, on which The Muse grows.

…Here is the stuff of originality. For it is the totality of experience reckoned with, filed, and forgotten, that each man is truly different from all others in the world.

          Bradbury also makes this recommendation to writers on page 36:

Read poetry every day of your life…it flexes muscles you don’t use often enough…it expands the senses and keeps them in prime condition.

          In this book, I discovered Ray Bradbury also wrote poetry. Eight of his poems are in the back of the book including my favorite “What I Do Is Me—For That I Came for Gerard Manley Hopkins” on page 137. I think a framed copy should be in every nursery and read nightly to every child so he or she can be “the only you that’s truly you on Earth.”

          For a writer or not, that’s the best life goal.

My Writer's Survival Kits

From Kate's Writing Crate…

     
        I never leave home without my basic writer's survival kit—at least one book, a pen, and a notebook.

In my purse, I carry at all times pocket-sized versions of The Writer's Life: Insights from the Right to Write by Julia Cameron, 6" x 4", and Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg, 4.5" x 3", along with pens and small notepad so I can write anywhere, anytime I have a few moments whether waiting for someone in a restaurant, before a movie, or at a dentist's office.

        Watching people in these places is a great way to capture details to use later describing characters. Overheard conversations can lead to plot twists or essays. However, if I'm not inspired by my location, I randomly open either of these pocket-sized books, read a page or two, grab my pen, and start scribbling down thoughts.

        In my car, I keep pens, a full-sized notebook, and two books—The War of Art: Break Through Your Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield and Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman—in case I don't bring my purse with me and find myself with time on my hands. This happens once or twice a week.

        If I know I am going to have time to write, I bring my lovely black damask-print tote bag always stocked with half a dozen pens, a full-sized notebook, and The War of Art by Steven Pressfield as it never fails to motivate me so I always want it nearby. I then add whatever book(s) I'm currently reading. These books are as essential as the pens and notebook because reading sparks my writing. I don't have time to wait for my muse. I meet her on the path left by the tip of my pen in my notebook.

Frankly, there is never enough time to write. These small pockets of time and my writing kits are what make my writing life possible on busy days.

        I wish more writing books were offered in pocket-sized versions. My top choice would be, not surprisingly, The War of Art. Other books would include: The Writer's Home Companion edited by Joan Bolker, Ed.D., For Writer's Only by Sophy Burnham, Zen and the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury, and Telling Lies for Fun and Profit by Lawrence Block. I could go on, but these would make a great start.

        If they were pocket-sized, I would always have my favorite writing books with me—a portable cheering section supporting me as I write every chance I get!

           

TV Shows Highlighting Writers 5

From Kate's Writing Crate…

 

        It's a busy time of year. Hopefully, you are making time to write. For some inspiration and a break from the frenetic holiday season, take time to watch Super Soul Sundays and/or Well Read, two more TV shows highlighting writers. Both are weekly programs.

In Hawaii, Oprah Winfrey hosts Super Soul Sundays on Sunday mornings on her channel, OWN. Please note: there is a philosophical/spiritual theme to the show so it may not appeal to everyone.

Guests on the show have included authors Steven Pressfield discussing The War of Art; Anne Lamott discussing Bird By Bird and Stitches; Mariel Hemingway and Bobby Williams discussing Running in Nature: Stepping Into the Life You Were Meant to Live; and Mark Nepo discussing The Book of Awakening, to mention only a few. Songwriters like India.Arie have also appeared.

There are a variety of views presented on the show by many people, not just writers, but I especially enjoy hearing from the wide array of authors about their work.

Anne Lamott was a recent guest discussing many things including her latest book, Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope, and Repair. She writes with passion about her takes on religion and politics among many other topics. If you read her hilarious and heartbreaking book Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year, you were introduced to Lamott's best friend, Pammy. In Stitches, you learn more about her.

  

One passage in Stitches jumped out at me.

On page 28 Lamott writes: As far as I can recall, none of the adults in my life ever remembered to say, "Some people have a thick skin and you don't. Your heart is really open and that is going to cause pain, but that is an appropriate response to this world. The cost is high, but the blessing of being compassionate is beyond your wildest dreams. However, you're not going to feel that a lot in seventh grade. Just hang on."

Many writers I know would have benefited from an adult spilling that secret.

* * * * * *

Well Read is a PBS show hosted by Terry Tazioli who interviews an author each week for the first two thirds of the show. Both fiction and non-fiction books are covered. Some recent interviews included The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis, Ian Rankin about his Inspector Rebus series, and The Violinist's Thumb by Sam Kean.

After each interview, Mary Ann Gwinn joins Tazioli on set to discuss other books on the same topic or in the same genre. Gwinn is a former VP of the National Book Critics Circle and a book reviewer for The Seattle Times so she offers six or more recommendations.

Both Tazioli and Gwinn are passionate about books. I learn about many authors new to me from this show.