One Book on My Writing Bookshelf

What's this business of being a writer. It's just putting one word after another.
~ Irving Thalberg

If You Can Talk, You Can Write

This book by Joel Saltzman is a short inspiring book that I keep on my writing bookshelf to remind myself of just that. It has exercises and prompts throughout the book and it's short enough that you can read it in an evening. This exercise taken from his book and many other writing prompt books says to randomly pick a word from the dictionary and use that word to freewrite. If you'd like to join me in writing this morning my random word was fussy. This word can inspire a paragraph, poem or short story, or maybe just get you to start writing. Set a timer for thirty minutes and write about fussy. Now get back to work.

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

A Stretch of Cloudless Sky

The ideal view for daily writing, hour on hour, is the blank brick wall of a cold-storage warehouse. Failing this, a stretch of sky will do cloudless if possible.
~ Edna Ferber

Edna Ferber was called "the greatest American woman novelist of her day" and I'm guessing by this quote it was her habit to write daily. I like finding out about these women who wrote and were successful at a time that women were told their names should only be in print three times announcements of their birth, marriage and death.
For your writing today, take a notebook and go outside. While I can't guarantee a cloudless sky I do know a change in scenery might spark your writing. Write for 30 minutes...and then read this short biography about Edna Ferber. Now get back to work.

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

It's not easy

"Writing is the hardest work in the world. I have been a bricklayer and a truck driver, and I tell you -- as if you haven't been told a million times already -- that writing is harder. Lonelier. And nobler and more enriching."
--Harlan Ellison

This writing life I have chosen isn't easy; I have tried to stop many times. Times when the frustration and difficulty can be disheartening. Something always pulls me back in. I think it's my love of words and how good writing is when it works. When you pull those simple words together into a sentence, a paragraph, a page and it sings. Or when you touch a reader with your words...those are good days.

Write a page today about why you write and why you continue to write daily. At those times you want to quit take out your page and read it, better yet post it next to your desk or keep it tucked into your daily writing notebook.

Need an inspiring goal this summer? Check out the this link. If you think you can write a novel in 3 days you need to register by August 31st.

Now get back to work.

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

Perfectionism and writing

Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly.
Robert Schuller


We will write when we're inspired, when the time and all of the conditions are perfect. When the coffee mug is full, the pencils are sharp, the ream of paper is organized just so...

What's wrong with right now? Right now, start your word processing program and click file/new. Or open your notebook. Start writing and don't stop for thirty minutes, that means no editing, no coffee cup filling, no checking emails or reading another blog entry. If we wait to become a writer we will never write. It will never be good enough, it will never be the perfect time.
Need more inspiration for why perfectionism might be stalling your writing career. This article by Angela Booth has some helpful tips, including daily writing...are you sensing a pattern yet?

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

Making Money as a Writer

I never had any doubts about my abilities. I knew I could write. I just had to figure out how to eat while doing this.
Cormac McCarthy

For me it's been a struggle making a living as a writer and I don't think I'm alone. But one thing I've learned over the years from writers who have cracked the code is reselling your articles. Selling reprints is one way to make money while you're working on your new work.

Today, find a market for a piece you've already sold. Where do you start? If you have written articles I like Moira Allen's article on selling reprints. Read it, do a little research and spend an hour submitting. Now get to work on your new writing.


Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

Making Sense of it

“Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area.”
Nadine Gordimer (South African novelist and short-story writer, 1991 Nobel Prize for Literature)


Why do you write? If you have a burning need to get words on paper don't stop now to answer that question. The why will come in time. I was introduced to daily writing when I read Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. Her morning pages exercise filled many spiral notebooks before I got it. Getting the words down daily helped me understand the why. They have since become windows into my "sense of life". After your writing this morning read this article that gives you a glimpse of morning pages. Now get back to work.


Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

A Talent for Writing

It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous. ~Robert Benchley


Are you a talented writer or are you like many published authors...persistent. Many authors will tell you that they don't believe they are the most talented, they just didn't give up. I don't know about you, but that motivates me. It's not to say you shouldn't try to improve your craft. Like anything the more you work at it the better you become. Almost effortlessly if you count daily writing as effortless. To make a habit stick, the rule is to do it for at least thirty days. Can you commit to thirty days? Sure you can, now get back to work. Talented writers give up every day, don't be one of them.

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

Write a Poem and Submit it

A poem begins with a lump in the throat. ~Robert Frost


If you find that even writing one page is too daunting, try writing a poem. A poem can be the bridge from lumpy throat to finished work. A poem can slowly ease you into another day of writing.
For inspiration read some poems from the great American poet, Robert Frost, four time Pulitzer Prize Winner. Or try emuse.After you've written your lumpy throat poem find a market and submit it. That's it, now stop reading and get back to work.

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

Anticipation

Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say. ~Sharon O'Brien

Did you ever find a piece of your writing that is so good, you don't ever remember writing it? Find those bits today, the great sentence, the amazing paragraph, the beautiful words and weave them onto a page. One page of writing, approximately 250 words. What are you waiting for, you may discover your voice. Now get back to work.

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

The Writing Secret

Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.
- Matthew Arnold


I think so many writers are looking for something that's not really there. I'm a firm believer in writing your truth. When you write your truth readers know the difference. Poems become lullabies stories sing.Today, just take five. Five minutes and the absolute truth as you know it. It can shock you and scare you but it's all you have. Now, get back to work.

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

Helen Hunt Falls

Writing with Passion

As soon as I began, it seemed impossible to write fast enough - I wrote faster than I would write a letter - two thousand to three thousand words in a morning, and I cannot help it.
Helen Hunt Jackson


A visit to Helen Hunt Falls in Colorado Springs was enough to inspire even a nag. Helen Hunt Jackson, an American writer and poet fought tirelessly for Indian reform.
My guess Helen felt so passionate about Native American rights that this fueled her writing. Have you found your passion yet? If you have, you will be as Helen was...unstoppable. Today, look through your work. Is your passion evident or is each word a struggle?

Now get back to work!

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

The Music of Words

To me the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the music the words make. - Truman Capote


Does your writing make music? Poets understand the importance of the right word. Review just a paragraph of your work today does it sing? if not what simple changes can be made to make music and read a short by Alice Munro for inspiration.

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Writing on Sunday

Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.
Joseph Addison


Sunday for most writers is a day off...but should it be for writing? I don't think so have you procrastinated all week on a piece of work? Sunday is the perfect day to take it out and look at it with fresh eyes. Eyes that don't have deadlines. Take your work for a picnic or to a cafe, treat your work with respect. Write one sentence, one beautiful sentence about Sundays...it's a peaceful day.




Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Write on Saturday?

"I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired at nine
o'clock every morning"
Peter De Vries

Every morning...even Saturday?

Sure, it's Saturday you want to relax, lay in the hammock or just drink beer
and eat pretzels...but you can't because you have to write. I'll let you
enjoy your Summer day, only after you write one paragraph. What's one
paragraph? Nothing especially when it's about beer. Write one paragraph
about beer it could lead to something great...then go lie in the hammock.


Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

Get to work

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the
outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy
to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath



That's right kids no self-doubt today you are talented, creative and amazing
writers...show me some guts today, set the timer for 30 minutes and write with
guts!

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag