I agreed to meet Sally at the local coffee shop on a Monday morning, and I told her to bring a notebook. I’d seen her at church a few times with her four children hanging off her like she might be monkey bars. She ran the children’s program and had even pulled off the church Christmas musical with twenty haloed children in under a month, so I knew she had energy as well as the chops to make it happen if she wanted it. She wanted to write a novel. I told her over the next year, I would be glad to help get all the way to a finished manuscript. She simply needed to be willing to hear the truth and dare to take my advice. I sat there […]
Read the RestTag Archives | writing life
How to End Well and the MBT Vision for 2012
Last week in the Warren household, we had what I call, “Warren Life-Planning Class.” It was mandatory attendance, taught by the parents to the four now-nearly-grown young adults. Who may or may not have some challenges with time management (a.k.a missing college classes) and financial planning (a.k.a an excess in pizza purchases). I didn’t expect perfection – I just wanted to overview HOW to manage your life and time. I started with making them write their obituaries. Probably not a great idea. Peter wrote: “Peter Warren died after taking the Warren Life-Planning Class.” Nice, real nice. But, it did get across one concept….everything they do now matters. Every choice they make feeds into the next one. Every habit they make embeds into the outcome of their life. And every decision […]
Read the RestCounting the cost of the writing life
We spend a lot of time here at My Book Therapy and in the writing industry talking about craft, networking, marketing, promoting, and the general way to write a book. Panster, plotter, planster (plotter and panster combination.) But what we don’t discuss much is the cost of giving your life to writing. Especially to writing fiction. There’s a price tag, and while I love what I do, there are days I “feel” the price I’ve paid. I have no co-workers. I sit in my lovely tower, which I adore, alone every single day. Sometimes the phone never rings for me. I may not get a personal email or friendly phone call for days. My family lives out of my state. I don’t have children. My life is carved out perfectly […]
Read the Rest5 ways to stir creativity over Thanksgiving
Breathing Room for your Brain Or, 5 ways to manage the Thanksgiving Brain Break. First, I just want to say that I am thankful for Thanksgiving and the mandatory break that it forces into my life –and yes, I mean forces. Think jackhammer. Or wedge. I am in the middle of writing a book, up against a deadline the first of December and near the final stretch. I’m so full of excitement it’s difficult to look up. To eat. To speak clearly. Those of you who are doing NaNoWriMo (and especially MBT WriMo) know what I mean. Like a blanket, our story embraces us, and we are reluctant to break free even for a deep-fried turkey and apple/pumpkin/chocolate pie. Thanksgiving forces us to untangle ourselves from our creative process. To […]
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