This week, I’m writing about something that’s currently very, very close to my heart. And my brain. And my sinuses. To make a five-day-long story short, I finally caught this winter’s obligatory flu virus. And it has knocked. Me. DOWN. I know that I’m not alone. I also know that a lot of writers struggle with the way that any illness – and the subsequent brain fog, fatigue, and general feeling of yuckiness – can bring a writing project grinding to a halt. Here on what I since

In a previous post, I talked a little bit about how saying “yes” to writing means saying “no” to doing something else. Because of the great importance of that choice, I wanted to focus this week’s pep talk on encouraging all of you: it is okay to say no to things. You have every right to guard your writing time. In fact, you may have to, in order to succeed in your writing goals. Personally, weekends are my writing time. I work full-time throughout the week, and while I do ma

For anyone familiar with NaNoWriMo, you’ve probably heard the encouragement to “Ignore your Inner Editor” during the month of November. Just get the words down on paper, no matter how poor they are. Forget proper grammar and sentence structure. Ignore plot holes and mistakes. Don’t even backspace or fix a typo! In the words of Nike brand – Just Do It. Easier said than done, right? Sometimes, silencing your inner editor is actually more of a feat than the writing process itsel

I tend to meet a lot of perfectionists in the writing craft. I’m one of them! And it’s an absolute beast to face up to one of the hardest truths about our calling. So I’m just going to say it: Writers, I have good news and bad news for you. What you are writing will never be perfect. You will never achieve perfection. This is the best and worst thing about writing. No one is perfect, ourselves included. But here’s the beautiful contrast…if we aren’t perfect, and if we will ne

In an earlier post, I talked a little bit about the importance of routine in order to support a steady output of words for your WIP. But even when you get the routine down, it can be tough to get into the writing mindset when you sit at your computer. Some of us end up scrolling Pinterest or Twitter for a while, trying to get into that drafting mood. But there’s not always time for that – sometimes you need to start producing content, STAT! This week, we’re going to look at a

Humans are habitual comparers. I wish I knew exactly what it is that constantly compels us to compare our lives to those around us. Whether it’s fitness goals, money goals, house goals, travel goals…we’ve structured ourselves mentally and physically, in many ways, to measure our success against what others have, have done, or are currently doing. Unfortunately, writers are no exception. Have you ever gone into a bookstore, looked at a bestseller or debut novel on the shelf, a

For as long as I’ve been writing non-animal-centric stories, I have been trying – somewhat unsuccessfully at times, I might add – to include a romantic subplot in most of them. As a reader, I’ve always had the softest spot for knee-wobbling, toe-curling kisses, romantic partners who would fight and even die for each other, support and respect that defies logic, and of course, the tension of running into danger to save one another. What always frustrated me in my own drafts, h

“Are you a pantser or a planner?” This is the question I get asked the most by fellow writers. I used to identify myself 100% as a pantser – mostly because my modus operandi was to chase every plot my Muse flushed up, without taking a second to consider things any deeper than the surface of the idea. But as time has gone on, I’ve realized I’m actually neither a panster, nor a plotter. I am a journeyer. Whether your tendency is to plan a story to the last detail before you put

One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard from my writing friends—and myself!—is that we just don’t always have time to write. I think a more honest way to say this, however, is that we don’t necessarily make time to write. One of my mom’s favorite sayings is, “We all have the same twenty-four hours in a day. We have to choose how we spend them.” Which dovetails beautifully with another of her kernels of wisdom: “You’ll make time for what’s important.” When it comes to writing