My wife used to be a freelance artist. And then one day she came to no longer love what she did… It got old dealing with clients who approved preliminary sketches for finished art, only to not want to pay her for work because they changed their minds and wanted something else (and felt like […]
Stuck in a Rut
When you’ve been writing for years, it’s easy to sometimes find yourself stuck in a rut. Maybe you feel like you’re writing the same old thing; maybe you feel like work and life have taken priority over writing. Maybe you feel like writing’s lost that spark it once had. * * * When you do […]
Monday Motivation: Influences
A couple friends in different cities in Texas recently saw the band, Rush. Rush is one of the bands I’ve seen on several occasions; when I was younger, they were one of my favorite bands. When I think about it, the band had just as much influence on my writing as the writers I’ve always […]
Monday Motivation: Rewrites
“I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.” – James Michener One of the topics that always seems to come up in the writing group I’m in is how much we don’t like rewrites. I’m the most tolerant of rewrites, having rewritten the novel I just finished four times, but I still […]
Monday Motivation: Labor Day
It’s Labor Day in the U.S. For many, that means cookouts and rushing to crowd several weekends of fun into one last fling before the weather turns colder (unless you live in Texas!). On most holidays, I stop for a moment in my office and think about what the holiday means to me. Labor Day […]
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: What’s a Picture Worth?
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If you’re looking for inspiration this week — either a story idea or a writing exercise to get the creative juices flowing — write a thousand words about either of the couples below (or 500 words about each couple). Still stuck? Consider these possibilities: What if […]
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! * […]
Monday Motivation: Shake It Up
“What we want is a story that starts with an earthquake and builds to a climax.” – Samuel Goldwyn Fuck the weather! In recent months, I’ve come across more than a few books beginning with descriptions about the weather. Bad descriptions about the weather, at that; just shy of, “It was still dark and chilly […]
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 […]
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 […]