Then came the earthquakes. A divorce, single motherhood, a bankruptcy. Bing, Bang. Boom. Even though I was an emotional wreck, I never ballooned to outrageous proportions. Still, for the first time in my life I had to shimmy into a girdle to control the overflow of tummy flesh. I was mortified.
Read the full story »
What We See In The Mirror and How We Feel About It
The work that we do and that we wish we did
Our emotional, spiritual, and intellectual selves
Mates, children, parents, siblings, friends
What we think about what’s happening outside our door
Do you ever do timed free-writing? Do you ever just set a timer for ten or fifteen or thirty minutes and write about anything and everything till the bell rings? You’re not writing about anything. You’re just making words on a page or screen, one after the other, whether they make sense or not.
I know, it sounds like a huge waste of time. I mean, I’ve got things to do and projects to finish and dishes to wash and kids to read to and…. And–bullshit. You’re a writer; your ability to write is no different from your ability to run a race or play a game of tennis. Think of all the core exercises you do to get ready for a marathon, all the balls you hit to get your backhand into the groove. Writing requires the same regular exercising, training if you will, and just as training for a tournament doesn’t take place in view of the public, so training as a writer has to be distanced from the deadlines and judgments that accompany “real” writing projects.
Thus, the beauty of the Timed Free-write. It has no topic. It is about nothing. It’s only goal is to keep words coming for the time you have allotted. When the bell rings, you’re done; you have successfully achieved your goal; you can go out into the world and feel good that today you wrote. And if all you wrote was the same sentence over and over? No matter. Today that’s what came out; tomorrow may be different. I promise you that if you make a promise to yourself–and keep it–to do a Timed Free-write everyday, one day soon you’ll be amazed at what you’re producing.
Anyone want to take a pledge with me? Sign up for a month’s worth of Timed Free-writes and at the end of the month, let’s talk about what you’ve learned.
There was a time when I bought books about writing with a hunger and a purpose. I just knew that one of them, or maybe two or three, held the secrets to the universe of …
Do you like pretty things? Do you like pretty, sparkly things? Do you like pretty, sparkly things that dangle gracefully from your earlobes? Do you like these?
Would you like to see them dangling gracefully from …
That is the purpose of description, you know, to suck your reader into your mind’s eye, and spew out for their benefit exactly what you’re seeing. Some people are really good at it. …
I just ordered a bathing suit. It’s still February and I’m looking at swimwear. I do this every year. And every year, I pass on the opportunity to clothe my body for a season of …
Wallace Stegner–remember him? He of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Angle of Repose? Known as the Dean of Western Writers and founder of the creative writing program at Stanford University?
I have …
Where do you begin a story? At the beginning, of course.
Well, maybe not. Hard news writers, the actual reporters among us, have to begin their leads with the time-honored 5Ws and H: …
Yes they do. Every day. In almost every way. This, as much as used-up eggs and hot flashes, seems to be a fact of my midlife.
Once, in my glory days, I could …
This year, the sixth annual BlogHer conference has a Writing Track, and as part of that track, there will be two Rooms of Your Own (ROYO). If you have been to Blogher before, then you …
Late in the evening when there’s absolutely nothing else on, I have found myself on occasion watching Toddlers & Tiaras. It’s one of those train wreck reality shows in which overweight parents groom their …
Here is the first essay/blog post that will be the subject of an on-going editing dialogue. This is the first draft, untouched by human hands, as it were. Your job is to read …
Wanted: one taser that works through the television. If I had had my hands on such a thing last night while watching the Newshour on PBS, I would not have suffered such a migraine headache …
Do you write short or long? Do you meander into a story, or just get right to the point? And does it make a difference? I’m asking this because I’ve been aware for …
All Top Stories 
