- Exercising.
- Organizing a closet.
- Clipping fingernails.
- Thinking about gerunds. Continue reading
Things Better Than Grading Papers on a Sunday Night
writing
There are 12 posts tagged writing ( this is page 1 of 2).
On Writing — Found in an Old Notebook
09 September 2015
Re-reading “Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott has been very enjoyable. It’s amazing how Continue reading
Comic Book Writer’s Shack
A couple of Fridays ago, my regular writers’ group was canceled, which gave me an opportunity to crash my friend Billy’s comic book writers’ group. Continue reading
The Fine Art and Profitability of Flittering.
To reach my favorite carrel in the world, I walk past the library’s music collection. One day, I saw this CD, The Bird & The Rifle by Lori McKenna. I never heard of her, but I tried it out based on the cover artwork alone.
Turns out she’s a Continue reading
The whole animal (what I’ve gained from blogging).
I have a phobia—self-diagnosed, but I’m almost flawless at that kind of stuff—about putting my writing into the world, which may strike you as odd, a guy who makes good money writing for a living being shy about his work. Continue reading
Handsome Pretty Handsome, Dr. Snacks!
Yesterday, I worked from the library again, hoping to cure my case of the creative gacks with a change of venue. It’s such magical place—books everywhere! I even had my favorite carrel and the nearby trashcan Continue reading
A giant case of the creative gacks
Part of my commitment to this site is to add something new every day.
Maybe it’s just fatigue or the fact it’s hard to compete with Twitter on fire with unsubtantiated naughtiness, but I ain’t got it today, I just don’t.
Thankfully, my bare minimum for an entry is three sentences and a picture of some sort.
Crushed it.
Well-deserved plug—read mandyfish.com.
Writing this blog is part creative experiment, part self-improvement project, part gut check. In many ways, I was inspired by my friend Mandy, who’s been blogging at mandyfish.com for years about writing, parenting, Buddhism, and what have you.
I’ve always admired her willingness to log the hours, her pluck at examining her inner life, her utter disregard for internet trolls. You should read her stuff, but only if reading interesting stuff is your bag.
“Slowing Down for the Creative Brain” is one of my favorite posts by her. It’s very thoughtful, yet incredibly breezy.
If you want to hear Mandy’s “low voice,” she was a recent guest on Episode 4 of the Girl’s Girls podcast. She is also finishing a memoir.
I don’t feel like writing, situation normal.
Last night was one of those times when I didn’t feel like writing on my side projects. What I suffered was not procrastination but full-blown paralysis.
Nothing seemed worth committing to paper. Everything seemed trodden. Continue reading
Tackle the Books
I tell my copywriting students they need to learn how to write under pressure.
Creativity on demand is nervous business. Copywriters also usually sit right next to the persons they are competing against for the best assignments and the almighty Quan. And every project in ad land seems to have one screwball who wants it on the air yesterday or isn’t feeling it now even though they were clearly feeling it last week.
I remember the first copywriting assignment where Panic Chimp screamed in my head. I had to come up with a title for a grocery store coupon book that featured pro-literacy content from the NFL.
After a week of working on nothing else I finally landed on a line. I think my creative director was more relieved than I was.
As I teacher, I watch my students go through the same process—flailing and choking in water a foot deep. Eventually they figure it out for themselves. Or drown. Both are valuable experiences, creatively speaking.
For this blog, my deadline is to write something every day. The competition is the rest of the Internet.
No pressure.