Writer’s Life | Conscious Unplugging

There’s a lot of noise in the world. Since the evolution of television, computers, and mobile phones there’s been a gradual increase in the inputs into our lives.  Most authors write on devices that are connected to the outside world. This portal tempts us to dive out of the world of our writing and into …

Writers Life | Redeeming the Day

This is the day the Lord has made;We will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 New King James Version At this time of year, I often find myself wondering where the past year went. The questions keep coming: What did I achieve? How did I allow myself to let the year pass without doing all the things …

Take Your Ideas For a Walk

Walking causes a repetitive, spontaneous poetry to rise naturally to the lips, words as simple as the sound of footsteps on the road. L.M. Browning Creativity thrives when we break out of our same old routine. Even the smallest changes can help get us out of a rut and encourage creative thinking. Part of my …

Writer’s Life | A Sense of Possibility

As I write, I’ve just completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching Creative Writing. I used to be an  English teacher and I know how to teach creative writing, but in this course, I focused on my work as a writing mentor. The last few years have seen me develop workshops for beginning writers who …

Writers Life | Just Keep Writing

Just keep swimming.  Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.  Dory, from Finding Nemo Lately, I’ve found it hard to write. I think about the novels I have in progress and struggle to actually get to my desk and work on them. There’s been a lot going on in our family–a …

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Our Writing

Recently, I did a workshop with Annie Gicchuru from Uplifting Studios on how to write a diversity, equity, and inclusion statement. Annie encouraged us to write our statements, even if we don’t get it all right at once. Even if we make mistakes. She encouraged us to write, review, keep learning, keep adapting. It’s important …

Writers Life | The Words Keep Coming

Post-Covid apathy is real. For some, it leads to the Great Resignation, burnout, languishing, indifference, or the Great Whatever. Whatever it is, I seem to have it, and so do many other creative people I know and work with. In 2020, as the world locked down, I decided to use the time of seclusion as …

Ten Ways to Build a Writing Habit 

Can one tiny change transform your life? It’s unlikely you would say so. But what if you made another? And another? And another? At some point, you will have to admit that your life was transformed by one small change. James Clear One of the biggest questions I get from beginner writers is, ‘How do …

January: A blank page filled with potential

  For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning. (Little Gidding) T.E. Eliot New Year is a time when we reflect on the previous year and make resolutions or plans for the next. As a writer, I …

Create Through the Storm

In order to realize the worth of the anchor we need to feel the stress of the storm. Corrie Ten Boom Sometimes we writers want all our ducks lined up in a row–all the papers laid out in neat piles on our desk, all our family members occupied doing something else, the sun shining, and …