A robin landed on the deck railing today with the makings of a nest in her mouth. Have you noticed when you slow down long enough to hear them, the little thoughts that come unbidden can be entire new worlds to explore? The difficulty is, of course, slowing down. I’m trying to write today, so I’m procrastinating. But once you’re
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“To be engrossed by something outside ourselves is a powerful antidote for the rational mind, the mind that so frequently has its head up its own ass—seeing things in such a narrow and darkly narcissistic way that it presents a colo-rectal theology, offering hope to no one.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird Navel-gazing is one thing. A “colo-rectal theology” puts
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There’s no other goal. And yet, so often, it feels like the only thing I can’t manage to do. So I’m constantly searching for help. It’s a perk of running a site for writers as long as I have—I get the direct benefit. All the great insights and stories of writers struggling just like all of us, people you’d think
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One of the big problems I didn’t realize about becoming an editor is that now I have a particularly pernicious inner editor to overcome. Thankfully, I’ve recently learned a trick for overcoming the typical block I get in working on my book. Given my tendency toward perfectionism, it’s no wonder my novel has sat on my hard drive for over a
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