Tag Archive for "writing" tag

Thomas French, who is a super nice guy, a fantastic writer, and a mentor at Goucher College where I got my MFA degree, now has a book on the New York Times bestseller list. The book is Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives, and yesterday, he went on “The Colbert Report” to talk [...]

This is my favorite technique for getting something down on paper. It has never ever failed me. I’m not promising it’ll work for you, but you may find it worth a try. If you’ve ever heard of automatic writing, it’s a lot like that, except … it’s not.
It starts like this: I have a really [...]

Wow, guys, I have been SO busy lately. I didn’t mean to forget all about the blog, but I’ve got so many new and exciting projects going on that I can’t even keep up with myself. I think it’s safe to say at this point that The Artist’s Way is a very effective tool for [...]

People often laugh when I’m saying something very serious. I think it’s because I choose strong words that catch people off guard. Laughter is as much an expression of surprise as of actual humor, right?
When I don’t use humor to pad my opinions, I often receive looks of shock, confusion, or concern. When I let [...]

So, I’ve decided to do The Artist’s Way.  I finally bought a copy today after hearing about it for years. Teachers, friends and a variety of artists have told me that this book is really useful, but I’ve stayed away from it because I also heard that it has a lot of assignments. In particular, I [...]

Today, I’ve been catching up on my reading over at The Nervous Breakdown, and I have to tell you, I love these folks. There are a lot of great pieces up lately, so go check them out.
The one that prompted me to post today, though, is “On Selling Out” by Victoria Patterson. She shares her [...]

Anyone with a voice can sing.
Anyone with a pen can write.
Anyone with access to a bit of dirt and water can make mud pies or clay pots or bricks for houses.
The difference is that Bob Dylan has a unique sound (if not what most people were looking for), and he has something to say.
Same goes [...]

Memories of Kissing from Mary Richert on Vimeo.
So, it’s my 2nd video! Ever since finishing my MFA manuscript, I’ve been pondering what to do with these essays. I wrote about 150 pages of essays on something I call personal myth, which is an idea that I still want to write about more, but I haven’t [...]

Scratched Red Question Mark by takomabibelot
Today, ask yourself this most important of questions:
Why?
Why do you do it?
Why do you write? Why do you paint? Why do you play music? Why do you study every nook and cranny in the earth’s fleshy body? Why try to decipher the codes of our DNA? Why make things that [...]

from superbomba
We have all these stories inside us, and they present themselves as they are ready.
Stories are like dreams — they crop up now and then to remind us what we already know. They rise to the top like Ophelia in the river, asking, “What lesson have we learned?”