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Where’s Your Confidence?
When I paint woodland animals or dinosaurs or trees or oceans, I have to trust that the brushstrokes will result in something akin to those four things. I can’t tell when I’m painting; I’m too close to...
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Why You Need to Keep a Notebook
I am the keeper of many notebooks. I have one that stays in my purse. It isn’t a Moleskine, but it does the trick. I have notebooks beside my laptop. I have another in my living room, and it’s reserved...
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Has Anyone Ever Told You to “Find Your Voice”?
Today’s post is by Jim Dougherty. Has anyone ever told you to “find your voice“? It’s a curious bit of opaque advice that people like to share, but what does it really mean? Does it mean that you...
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Embrace Messiness
When I was a kid, my mom gave me motherly wisdom as most mothers do: “To have friends you have to be friendly; if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all; you have to get messy to make...
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How to Judge Criticism
Criticism can be given for multiple reasons, but it generally can be divided into two camps of thought. The first is criticism that is for the writer’s benefit; that is, criticism that takes a person’s...
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What to Do When the Well Runs Dry
The curse of the blank page is an actual phenomenon. You, the writer, come to the page, and nothing pours forth from your head or hands. You stare at the blinking cursor, and it stares back at you. You...
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Editors Can’t Be Writers
A notion exists that editors can’t be writers. Why, though, can’t editors be writers? Some people try to explain the impossibility by stating that editing other people’s work all day results in a...
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Of Writers and Coffee Shops
I’ve always struggled to write while sitting in a coffee shop. I’ve tried, but I rarely write anything of quality while in one. I’m distracted by the conversations I overhear. I find myself watching...
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Of Writers and Coffeeshops: The Sequel
When I first published “Of Writers and Coffeeshops” in 2011, I was amazed by the response. Several readers commented and shared whether they could or couldn’t work in coffeeshops. Unfortunately, those...
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Revisited: Why I Write
I am a worrier. I worry about real things, such as bills and projects and deadlines and health. I worry whether I come across as self-centered or self-pitying. I worry that I am those things. I worry...
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Why I Studied Poetry
I could name a number of reasons for why I chose to study poetry in graduate school. I could say I was lost, and it would be true. I didn’t know what to do after some job opportunities closed during my...
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Writing is Like Driving a Standard
To drive a standard is to be in tune with one’s automobile. It’s to recognize when it’s time to shift, up or down. It’s to know when to put the vehicle in neutral or when to stay in motion, fluctuating...
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When the Words Come Easily
The days when the words come easily are gifts. They are the moments when the writer is free from whatever distracts her. They are the times when the words pour forth – not necessarily good or perfect...
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National Poetry Month 2013
This National Poetry Month, I’ve decided to focus on a few poets who have contributed to the way I write or to the way I think about writing. It should be an interesting exercise because it’s difficult...
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When the Words Don’t Come Easily
When the words don’t come easily, when I have to fight for every one of them, I take solace in Richard Hugo’s thoughts. He says the hard work put into one piece of writing makes for the sudden ease of...
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Why I Love Mornings
I am a morning person; thus, I love mornings. I specifically love early mornings. The time between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. is precious. Those hours are not yet filled with the yammering of my brain and all...
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You Don’t Have to Say Anything
I wanted to publish these words yesterday, but they were difficult in coming. They remain difficult now. I’m not sure what point they serve, if any, except as a reminder that silence sometimes is the...
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When It’s Time to Scrap a Post
I had a different post scheduled for today. I wanted to have a conversation about the importance of taking care of oneself, but what I wrote made me nauseous. I felt ill at ease when I revised and...
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The Writing Basics: A Seven-Beat
I dance salsa. At least, I try. I wouldn’t say I’m very good at it, but I enjoy it. The trick with dancing salsa, as with any dance, is never to forget the basic. In this case, it’s a dance based on a...
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How to Overcome Distraction
It’s difficult to write today. My mind already is cluttered. I haven’t slept well. I am distracted and distractible: the bill that requires a phone call, emails that require replies, people who need to...
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