Category: Inspiration
O, Christmas Tree
I love Christmas trees and the holiday spirit they bring, but walking around the city the past few days and seeing the aftermath made me sad.
Monday Motivator: A Writer’s Essential To-Do List
The Monday Motivator, as it says down at the bottom there, is a quote posted on Mondays to encourage, inspire, and motivate writers. Today’s quote is a little different. It’s a long quote, very, very, very long. More than 2,500 words long. But motivate? Encourage? Inspire? Oh yes, it most definitely does.
25 THINGS WRITERS SHOULD START DOING (ASAFP) is from TerribleMinds.com, the blog of writer Chuck Wendig. His “About” page warns that the site is unmercifully profane. I don’t know that I’d call it unmerciful, but he is a little saucy with the language, so if your delicate sensibilities can’t take it, don’t visit. If, however, you want to read a fantastic list that goes far beyond the perfunctory Writer’s Digest pats on the head and gentle nudges, you must click over and see what Mr. Wendig has to say.
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The Monday Motivator is a quote posted on Mondays to encourage, inspire, and motivate writers of all skill levels and across genres. If you have a favorite quote you’d like to share, let me know and I’ll post it here. Click here to see past Monday Motivators.
Making the Time to be Quiet and Write
You write by sitting down
and writing.
— Bernard Malamud
Sounds easy enough, but those of us who write know there’s more to it than that. Endless distractions can pull us away from our writing. Then a few days, turn into weeks, months, or more of not writing, and our initial excitement turns to dread.
The only way to break that cycle is to follow Mr. Malamud’s advice:
Sit down and write.
If you have a hard time motivating yourself to do that, join The Silent Writer’s Collective for a Silent Write-In, a weekly online writing retreat that helps writers put aside distractions and write.
By committing to a group effort, (think Weight Watchers or NaNoWriMo) many writers find it’s easier to stay motivated and reach goals. Writing, as we’ve heard ad nauseum, is a solitary endeavor, but sharing our efforts with a group makes it easier, and can help us reach our writing goals.
Our next retreat is tomorrow night, Tuesday, January 17, at 9 PM EST (US), if there’s interest, we’ll also meet at 9 PM PST. We start on time with a minute or two of hellos, then the “buzzer” sounds and we start writing. You can work on your own writing project, or use one of the provided writing prompts or exercises to get started.
We meet via Twitter using the hashtag #SilentWriters. If you aren’t on Twitter, we have a group on Facebook. If you don’t have either, just join in on your own at 9, and know you’re not working out there on your own.
For more information, check out the SWC FAQs.
Monday Motivator: Philip Roth
“I turn sentences around.
That’s my life. I write a sentence and then I turn it around.
Then I look at it and turn it around again…”
— E.I. Lonoff
in “The Ghost Writer” by Philip Roth
That’s the glamorous life of a writer. Writing, revising, repeating. It’s also what I’ve been caught up in for the past five or so months … turning sentences around, then around again. I like to think I’m making progress, but sometimes I wonder. That’s another part of the glamorous life of a writer: Uncertainty.
The Monday Motivator is meant to motivate and inspire, but my commentary doesn’t seem very inspiring does it. In fact, it feels pretty negative. Maybe that’s why I turned to my blog today for the first time in months. This writer is in need of some blogosphere love. ❤ How about it folks? Lay it on me! Share a tip or trick you use to keep going when the words have turned you inside, outside and upside down?
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The Monday Motivator is a quote posted on Mondays to encourage, inspire, and motivate writers of all skill levels and across genres. If you have a favorite quote you’d like to share, let me know and I’ll post it here. Click here to see past Monday Motivators.
A Thousand Words: Foggy Morn
Commons image by shaferlens on Flickr. Some rights reserved.
A Thousand Words is a photo prompt posted on Sunday. Maybe the image will inspire you to write a short story, a poem, or a blog post. Whatever your response, I hope the picture inspires you to some sort of creative zen.
If you write something based on the image, feel free to share a link in the comments section. Also feel free to use the photo on your blog, just be sure to give proper credit, which I will always include in the post or the caption.
Resources: Creative Commons, Flickr
Monday Motivator: Might, Right, and Just
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“It has been said of the
world’s history hitherto
that might makes right.
It is for us
and for our time
to reverse the maxim,
and to say
that right makes might.”
— Abraham Lincoln
Cooper Union Address
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“Justice has been done.”
— President Barack Obama
announcing the death of Osama bin Laden
Sunday, May 1, 2011
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The Monday Motivator is a quote posted each week to encourage, inspire, and motivate writers of all skill levels and across genres. If you have a favorite quote you’d like to share, let me know and I’ll post it here. Click here to see past Monday Motivators.
Resources: The Daily Post.
A Thousand Words: When Worlds Collide
Creative Commons image by Dan Roberts on Flickr. Some rights reserved.
A Thousand Words is a photo prompt posted every Sunday. Maybe the image will inspire you to write a short story, a poem, or a blog post. Whatever your response, I hope the picture inspires you to some sort of creative zen.
If you write something based on the image, feel free to share a link in the comments section. Also feel free to use the photo on your blog, just be sure to give proper credit, which I will always include in the post or the caption.
Resources: Creative Commons, Flickr, The Daily Post
Getting Ready for an Hour of Silent Writing
If you’re a writer finding it difficult to make time for writing, think about joining the Silent Writers Collective tonight for its weekly online writing retreat. All writers are welcome to join in at 9 EST and commit an hour (or more) to their craft. Starting tonight, the sessions will be unmoderated.
You can work on your own project or use one of the exercises provided below.
- From PW.org:Fiction and Poetry prompts
- From Verbal Verbosity: The 100 Words Challenge Prompt
- From me: A photo prompt, “Totally Wow”
- From Mama’s Losin’ It: Five Writing Prompts
- From @Selorian on Twitter:#storystarters
- From Plinky: Quickie questions to ponder
For more information on tonight’s retreat, visit the Silent Writers Collective.
Resources: The Daily Post
Monday Motivator: Wallace Stevens
“After the final no there comes a yes
And on that yes the future world depends.”
— Wallace Stevens
from The Well Dressed Man with a Beard
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The Monday Motivator is a quote posted each week to encourage, inspire, and motivate writers of all skill levels and across genres. If you have a favorite quote you’d like to share, let me know and I’ll post it here. Click here to see past Monday Motivators.
Away with Words 