With all the talk these days about the “gift of imperfection,” it could be easy to take the idea for granted. But everyone pursuing art, or even just a satisfying life, must embrace the huge importance of accepting imperfection: “No good work whatever can be perfect, and the demand for perfection is always a sign of a misunderstanding of the
Read more…
I’m still up on the high of teaching at the Story Vision Fiction Retreat in Seattle. So I’m still thinking about the last session I shared earlier today… Has what you’ve faced made you realize the value of your story? When we’ve been through difficult, painful things that laid us out, we can find God has helped us through. We can
Read more…
I know it’ll come as a shock to some of you, but as much as the writing process is about staying in the work until you’ve said everything you need to say, the editing process is all about staying in the posture of listening. Once again, I’m stealing advice from Donald M. Murray’s excellent essay on the practice and
Read more…
Because I’m prone to the happy hobbit life, I’m often forced to remember that life doesn’t serve books. Books serve life. And as supporting documents for the journey, they make useful and often life-giving guides. But they make horrible masters. Some writers don’t appreciate this distinction and they end up serving their books in many ways. Though their book only
Read more…
Being real isn’t easy. It isn’t commonly practiced. It isn’t valued. Yet some folks have the idea that it’s becoming too common and we need to be careful about being transparent. They don’t agree we should promote more honesty and openness. Make no mistake, there is a battlefield over vulnerability. “…but once you are real you can’t become unreal again.
Read more…
