Why I write. I stole the title of this piece from Joan Didion who stole it from George Orwell. “I write,” she confessed in her superb 1976 essay, “to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.” Much like … Continue reading
All writers occasionally doubt themselves when they revisit their work. “You, a writer?!?” our censors scoff, “can your sentences be any more choppy?” “And that ending? Could you conclude in a more predictable way? I thought we did away with ‘in the end’ and ‘all and all’ in 2nd grade?” Suddenly, our work, our whole … Continue reading
“People claim to want to do something that matters,” Ryan Holiday, author of Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts once said, “yet they measure themselves against things that don’t, and track their progress not in years but in microseconds. They want to make something timeless, but they focus instead on immediate … Continue reading
When contemplating a piece of work, Julia Cameron advises we’d do better to think whom is this work for? whom will it serve? rather than how will it serve me? Pondering this notion of art as service, I’m reminded of Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s luminous Letters to a Young Poet, a collection of his five … Continue reading
“There are two states in which you may exist, person who writes, or person who does not. If you write: you are a writer. If you do not write: you are not. Aspiring is a meaningless null state that romanticizes Not Writing. It’s as ludicrous as saying, ‘I aspire to pick up that piece of paper … Continue reading
On one of my favorite Q & A shows, Lori, a long-time watcher, asks for advice. Like most of us who are ambitious, she suffers from a widespread malady- heart-breaking disappointment at the revelation that her dreams aren’t manifesting in the way she wants: “I’m clear on my goals and take daily action toward my … Continue reading
When Cheryl Strayed was 33, she sat in a hushed cabin in the Massachusetts woods to write “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail,” the book that would eventually earn her dazzling literary success and worldwide acclaim. She, of course, had no way of knowing that her memoir would go on to sell … Continue reading
According to organizational psychologist Adam Grant, the most inventive, innovative people have what most of us believe are “bad” habits: they procrastinate, they experience fear and doubt, they even have horrible ideas. But it is because of these “bad” habits-not in spite of them-that creative people have breakthroughs. 1. Bad habit #1: They procrastinate Ever … Continue reading
“BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!” my annoying alarm clock blared. 6 am and it was time to go to the gym…at least the time I was supposed to go to the gym. For over a year, I had been going to the gym diligently 3x a week no matter what. Now when gym day rolls around, I find myself … Continue reading
“Maybe I’ll go back to school…” “Maybe I’ll get my teaching credential…” “Maybe I’ll move to San Francisco…” If you’re like me, you know “maybe” intimately like a friend. Though “maybe” introduces a realm of possibility, the conditional form is also non-committal: it negates the responsibility for action. I might write; I might sing. … Continue reading
The Blank-Faced Confidante 