My dear friend, Karen Batchelor, was an inspiring and wonderful writing teacher. She passed away too soon, December 2013. I was looking through material to post here and came across this gem by Karen. I hope you enjoy it and hope it inspires you to Just Write. Lower Your Expectations, by Karen Batchelor When 2012 arrived, I dismissed the thought of making any new year’s resolutions. After all, those aspirations often died just days or hours after their birth. However, on January 1, a tiny little idea began to germinate. A few minutes later when the concept was fully formed, I started in on my new project. My goal: Write a minimum of five minutes a day. I can hear some of you chuckling. What kind of a goal is that? In fact for some time, neither grandiose nor modest intentions have worked. Although I could create a lot of…
Something you are wearing right now. Prompt #94
Write about an article of clothing, shoes, or jewelry. . . something you are wearing right now. Photo by Breana Marie
Unsolicited submissions = fossil fuel for Barrelhouse
“Thanks for thinking of us as a home for your work! Unsolicited submissions are the fossil fuel that keeps the Barrelhouse moped puttering along on the side of the literary highway.” — Barrelhouse BarrelHouse: an independent non-profit literary organization. bridges the gap between serious art and pop culture. a biannual print journal featuring fiction, poetry, interviews, and essays about music, art, and the detritus of popular culture. a web site that regularly posts new short fiction, nonfiction, interviews, and random stuff. produced by writers for readers who are looking for quality writing with an edge and a sense of humor. offers 8-week online workshops where writers get the straight dope on their work. wants to be your weird Internet friend. You can also follow Barrelhouse on Twitter and Facebook for all the latest jibber jabber from Barrelhouse, our contributors, and the indie lit scene. BarrelHouse accepts submissions through a…
Guest Blogger Maria Murnane reveals her secret to getting past the sticky parts.
I recently read a blog post by Maria Murnane at She Writes and asked Maria if I could share it with you. She graciously said yes. Maria writes: I’m currently working on my seventh novel, and one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned about the writing process is when to hit pause on a particular scene/sentence/description and move on. If you’re a perfectionist or Type-A personality, that can be hard to do, but it’s extremely important. Trust me. I use all caps to keep me focused on progressing the story. When I was writing my first novel, if I wasn’t sure where to take the story next, I would spend countless hours tweaking, editing, refining, and tinkering the words I already had written. Where did that get me? Nowhere! The problem with spending too much time on a particular area of the book is that you aren’t moving the…
“Vulnerability is my strength.” — MK Asante
“I’ve always known that I had a story to tell about my education. I don’t mean school. I mean my coming of age.” — MK Asante, filmmaker, professor, hip-hop artist, essayist and memoirist. The Writer magazine, July 2014 “I didn’t have the courage to do it [write] until more recently. I was ashamed of some of the things I wrote about in the book. I didn’t want to deal with those things. As I had more distance, reflection and time, I realized that vulnerability is my strength, and everything I’ve been through is not something to be ashamed of.” How about you? Are you ready to write your story? You can jumpstart your writing with prompts posted on The Write Spot Blog.
How’s the weather? Prompt #93
“How’s the weather?” It’s a question often asked. And sometimes we really want to know the answer. Right now, Summer 2014, Northern California where I live, is experiencing a drought. Lawns are brown, cars are covered with layers of dust and dirt, flowers and plants are drooping. But I’m not complaining. We have plenty of water to drink and the public pool is a great place to cool off. How’s the weather? We want to know! Photo by Breana Marie
Books on writing
There are more how-to-write books than we have time to read. IF we tried, we would spend all our time reading about writing and not writing. But there are a few especially good how-to write books. Here are some of my favorites. What are your favorite writing books? Dorothea Brande was an early proponent of freewriting. In her book Becoming a Writer (1934), she advises writers to sit and write for 30 minutes every morning, as fast as they can. Peter Elbow advanced freewriting in his books Writing with Power and Writing Without Teachers (1975), and freewriting has been popularized by Julia Cameron through her books The Artist’s Way and The Right to Write. A few more writing books: Aronie, Nancy Slonim – Writing From the Heart Baldwin, Christina – Storycatcher Barrington, Judith – Writing the Memoir, From Truth to Art Baty, Chris – No Plot? No Problem! Bennet, Hal…
Jiffy Pop! . . . Prompt #92
Today’s prompt. . . look at the photo and write whatever comes up for you. Jiffy Pop!
Real Simple wants to know your Eureka moment.
From Real Simple magazine, July 2014: “Have you ever had a Eureka moment? Tell us about it.” “Think back on the instant when everything became clear. The split second when you realized that you had chosen the right career. Or the moment when you knew that your dearest friendship would last forever. Whether your epiphany changed your life or just made your day, write it down and share it with Real Simple.” Enter Real Simple’s seventh annual Life Lessons Essay contest and you could have your essay published in Real Simple and receive a prize of $3,000. Send your typed, double-spaced submission (1,500 words maximum, preferably in a Microsoft Word document) to lifelessons@realsimple.com. Contest ends September 18, 2014. Click here for contest rules. If you wrote on Prompt # 40, Pivotal Events . . . you’re on your way to entering this contest!
Your name could be here. . .
Fridays are Guest Blogger Days on The Write Spot Blog. Contact Marlene if you want to be a guest blogger on The Write Spot Blog, ~600 words, inspiring and encouraging for writers. You can read what other Guest Bloggers have written by clicking here.