Before tackling the first adult novel I remember reading, John Irving’s The World According to Garp (Modern Library) (affiliate link), the first adult fiction of any kind I remember reading was James Thurber’s short stories, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” and “The Catbird Seat.” I read them because they were available, and they were […]
Monday Motivation: The Power of Humor
“Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place.” – Mark Twain “Humor is an almost physiological response to fear.” – Kurt Vonnegut “You can’t deny laughter, the sound of which has always seemed to me the […]
Monday Motivation: The Luckiest Thing
Saturday night, instead of writing, I plopped down on the couch and watched a couple movies with my wife. I had plenty of writing-related things I needed to do; in fact, the plan for the evening was writing for me, and movies for my wife. I knew she’d enjoy the movies even more with company, […]
Monday Motivation: Work Hard
I’ve only read one Amy Tan book: The Bonesetter’s Daughter: A Novel (Ballantine Reader’s Circle) (Affiliate link). The novel’s protagonist is a ghost writer, and Tan uses the character to point out some of the pitfalls of being a writer when it comes to the way others sometimes view the profession: People thinking you have […]
Monday Motivation: Antique Ideas
If the idea well seems a little dry, I know a store most likely in your town (big or small) you can visit and come out full of ideas! Each time you visit, it’s different; each time you browse and leave, there’s the potential for discovering something new. The store? Your local antique shop! * […]
The Future of Books and Publishing
I recently watched Richard Nash’s talk about the future of books and publishing. (I found it here, on Booklife.) There are some great points made in the presentation, but there were two that really stuck out: The reminder that the long form narrative is a feature, not a bug. Most writers — whether they know […]
Writing Priorities
I recently finished Haruki Murakami’s memoir about running and writing, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. While it’s much more about running than writing — even if you don’t like running — it’s worth reading if you write. The parallels between distance running and writing a novel are obvious even if you […]
Defining Moments
On a walk last night, I thought about how I didn’t start writing seriously until I was 20. I always enjoyed writing, but it wasn’t something I thought I’d do when I was younger. (I thought I’d be an artist, a wildlife biologist, or a juggler.) As I walked along, I thought about the earliest […]
When I Win the Lottery
“When I win the lottery Gonna donate half my money to the city So they have to name a street or a school or a park after me…” – Camper Van Beethoven, “When I Win the Lottery” * * * Most of the posts on The Juggling Writer are about writing. Some of the posts […]
Monday Motivation: Learning as You Go
“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” – E.L. Doctorow * * * Writing well takes time to learn. One doesn’t sit down for a couple weeks and suddenly produce a bestseller. The time needed to produce 85,000 words of even bad writing takes longer than it takes most […]
Monday Motivation: Against the Odds
“It is impossible to discourage the real writers — they don’t give a damn what you say, they’re going to write.” – Sinclair Lewis I’ve heard many working writers tell would-be writers that they should give up before ever really trying. There are many reasons for this: Some writers feel the industry is already too […]
Monday Motivation: Living
“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” – Henry David Thoreau While a writer doesn’t have to pack it all up and move to a cabin in the middle of nowhere or travel to the far ends of the planet, it helps to have some […]
Monday Motivation: Happiness
Over the weekend, I replied to this post on Jane Friedman’s blog. (The entry is about happiness — in particular, about what we once believed would make us happy.) In replying, I wrote: I’ve found that I’m happiest when I do things I can do most days: going for walks and hikes, juggling, enjoying a […]