Archive for the story Tag

The #1 Writing Problem I See–and How to Fix It

Of course, there are too many writing problems to count… It’d be foolishness to think we could narrow it down to one. Or would it? For the benefit of everyone–including your future readers–I’m going to try. As I sat down at my writing chair last night to consider what I haven’t shared yet over the years of writing these little thoughts, first as an
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Be Brave. Get Dirty.

i used to hate getting dirty. You too? I mean, all kids love playing in mud and will put all sorts of disgusting in their mouths. I had that too. But a larger part of me hated messes. I always thought cleaning up was the best part of play time. In kindergarten, while the other kids squished finger paints and
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Why All It Takes Is 5 Minutes

It may come as a shock, but I’m easily distractible. It’s not something I’m proud of. Especially knowing how much my work depends on writers showing up and keeping up despite the battering hurricane of demands and requests that fly in through every open window. It can grow dark quickly underneath the pile of debris atop the little flame of
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How to Edit Out FEAR–for Good

It’s still early. That’s true. A true sentence. Regardless of how little there is left of the day, it’s still early. There’s time yet to write the daily clutch of words. Despite the fact that my brain is doing its usual whirring with all the things to get done, the manuscripts needing edits, consult calls to make, talks and articles
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Editor to Author: Letter to a Memoir Writer

Dearest Author, I've been thinking about worth lately. What's your story worth? At a recent writers conference I taught a workshop on how I saw publishing changing. Modern publishing, the only time in history when we've had separate "markets" for books, has begun to fracture and redistribute. I've shared several times about how The Shack has shifted things. It isn't
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