Blog
Blog
Blog
“Il faut cultiver notre jardin,” —Voltaire
For those of us who don’t do fancy French, this means:
“We must cultivate our garden,” says Pangloss at the end of Voltaire’s Candide.
No sentiment could be truer for women who write. Stop focusing on the whole wide world. Instead, maintain a space that is your own and encourages the fruits of your labors to blossom.
But the process of growing our garden requires the right tools. Reading this blog and learning how to revise your own stories could help you cultivate your garden, obtain peace of mind, and establish your writing legacy. Happy reading and writing!
Looking for a specific writing topic? Search the entire blog below.
5 Things to Do When You Can’t Write
Unfortunately, downtimes will happen as a writer. Don’t fret!
These writing breaks or hiatuses are necessary. They’re the pauses in a piece of music. The silence that’s necessary for us to hear the notes. Or sleep at the end of a challenging day.
In short, writing breaks are a needed rest. So what do you do when you can’t write?
Lessons from a Late Bloomer & Kate Bush Fan
“I always saw you as a late bloomer,” my mother told me when I was 20.
I don’t think she meant it as a compliment.
Maybe Patti Smith had to spend some time in the Piss Factory to tell her stories, but Kate Bush had other plans. And so did I.
A Return to Writing
When I made my last blog post This is the End in Dec of 2019, I had no idea how prophetic that title would be. In the last three years, I’ve had a battle with chronic illness due to mold exposure. I’ve had to homeschool my kiddo—a Montessori dropout— since COVID hit. And my family and I moved across the country.
Regular writing and editing were not options for me.
But times change. And if you’re a writer, you’ll find your way back to writing eventually.
Why So Serious? Using Humor in Your Memoir
Comic timing can be a tricky thing to find in your writing. Here’s how to make it work. From misconceptions about using humor in memoir writing to tips on how to use comedy in speaking presentations, you’ll get introductory techniques for how to use humor well.
Capture Movie Moments in Your Holiday Writing
Reflecting on your life in a journal may help you produce lots of content. But what happens when you have to sift through all that material to get to the good stuff and tell a story?
Journaling won’t get you to the heart of an experience. Not like shaping a story can.
Yep, I advocate for shaping a story rather than free writing. But how do you kickstart that story into motion? You don’t need a long ramble of exposition to figure out where to begin. A gut reaction will get you going and keep you away from passive voice.