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Showing posts with label writing brave and free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing brave and free. Show all posts
Jun 22, 2008
Apr 25, 2008
No 10 Easy Steps to Writing
I read a lot about writing, and sometimes I wonder how much I’m actually learning. Since I don’t take notes, highlight, or even buy the books so I can reference them later – is reading a waste of my time?
A professional, published, seasoned writer says, “No!” (but not in so many words)
Writing quotation: “In the end, writing skills are mostly absorbed, not learned. Like learning to speak as a native speaker, learning to write well is not just learning a set of rules or techniques,” writes Philip Martin in The New Writer’s Handbook 2007 (Scarletta Press). “It’s a huge, messy body of deep language, inspired by bits of readings, conversations, incidents; it’s affected by how you were taught and where you live and who you want to become.”
That’s good – and there’s more:
“For every convention, there is another way that may work better. For every rule, there are mavericks who succeed by flaunting it. There is no right or wrong way to write, no ten easy steps.”
Writing tip: I think the most successful writing mavericks or renegade writers (Linda Formichelli!) are those who don’t try to be different. They just are. They trust their gut, they take those little glimmers of inspiration and nurture them into blossoms of orange and yellow and red. Writing mavericks tap into their personalities and souls, and let themselves be vulnerable.
It may sound easy, but it takes a lot of courage not only to be who you are, but share it with your readers.
PS – I’ve now been on the radio twice, talking about my articles! I really should blog about it……
A professional, published, seasoned writer says, “No!” (but not in so many words)
Writing quotation: “In the end, writing skills are mostly absorbed, not learned. Like learning to speak as a native speaker, learning to write well is not just learning a set of rules or techniques,” writes Philip Martin in The New Writer’s Handbook 2007 (Scarletta Press). “It’s a huge, messy body of deep language, inspired by bits of readings, conversations, incidents; it’s affected by how you were taught and where you live and who you want to become.”
That’s good – and there’s more:
“For every convention, there is another way that may work better. For every rule, there are mavericks who succeed by flaunting it. There is no right or wrong way to write, no ten easy steps.”
Writing tip: I think the most successful writing mavericks or renegade writers (Linda Formichelli!) are those who don’t try to be different. They just are. They trust their gut, they take those little glimmers of inspiration and nurture them into blossoms of orange and yellow and red. Writing mavericks tap into their personalities and souls, and let themselves be vulnerable.
It may sound easy, but it takes a lot of courage not only to be who you are, but share it with your readers.
PS – I’ve now been on the radio twice, talking about my articles! I really should blog about it……
Mar 27, 2008
The skin of a rhino & the soul of an angel
“The skin of a rhino and the soul of an angel” is Albert Schweitzer’s advice for being a great leader. It’s also perfect advice for being a great writer, poet, novelist, journalist, or essayist. It’s necessary if not required to have the tough skin of a rhino when you’re writing, because the rejections outnumber the acceptances (for most of us).
And I know I’m not supposed to call it a “rejection.” It’s an “opportunity to do it better” or an “ignorant decision of an editor” or “business decision.”
Anyway, if you have the skin of a rhino, you don’t take things personally and you don't let the rejections knock you down. And if you have the soul of an angel, you've got enough spirit and wisdom and courage and creativity to try again. You also have imagination, hope, faith, goodness and light, too.
Writing quotation: “In my dream, the angel shrugged & said, “If we fail this time, it will be a failure of imagination” & then she placed the world gently in the palm of my hand.” – from Brian Andreas’ “Imagining World.”
Writing tip: Writers imagine, and writers fail. (Here’s a good opportunity for me to talk about my recent mistake regarding sourcing for an article, and my ulcers and lost sleep and that awful stress hormone cortisol running through my veins, making me fat and gray haired and anxious and afraid that that magazine won't hire me again. But no – instead I will talk about writers who have soul.).
Imagine an angel – one who shrugs and dismisses failure – has placed the world in the palm of your hand. All you have to do is summon the courage to figure out what to do with your world.
And I know I’m not supposed to call it a “rejection.” It’s an “opportunity to do it better” or an “ignorant decision of an editor” or “business decision.”
Anyway, if you have the skin of a rhino, you don’t take things personally and you don't let the rejections knock you down. And if you have the soul of an angel, you've got enough spirit and wisdom and courage and creativity to try again. You also have imagination, hope, faith, goodness and light, too.
Writing quotation: “In my dream, the angel shrugged & said, “If we fail this time, it will be a failure of imagination” & then she placed the world gently in the palm of my hand.” – from Brian Andreas’ “Imagining World.”
Writing tip: Writers imagine, and writers fail. (Here’s a good opportunity for me to talk about my recent mistake regarding sourcing for an article, and my ulcers and lost sleep and that awful stress hormone cortisol running through my veins, making me fat and gray haired and anxious and afraid that that magazine won't hire me again. But no – instead I will talk about writers who have soul.).
Imagine an angel – one who shrugs and dismisses failure – has placed the world in the palm of your hand. All you have to do is summon the courage to figure out what to do with your world.
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