Yesterday morning, I tried to write. But my mind kept jumping from thoughts to tasks to temptations—Facebook, Twitter, cookies, chocolate. I knew my time was limited—I had a full day of coaching calls ahead of me. I couldn’t move my writing time to a better slot later in the day. And I had a lot on...Read More

We live in a college neighborhood. On the plus side, we have 18 restaurants and several independent bookstores within walking distance. On the negative side, we are often kept up late into the night by the noise from our neighbor’s wild parties. I have to admit, these parties do have their benefit: they provide the...Read More

For the past 11 years, I’ve edited a quarterly devotional periodical. I work with at least one or two new writers a quarter. Some become regular writers. Some never get hired again. All of them were good enough to get hired in the first place. But not every writer has what it takes to get...Read More

Our new dog Sophie joined the family a couple of weeks ago, just in time for my daughter’s 10th birthday. Sophie liked doing two things that Muffin rarely did: jump up on the sofa and go upstairs. Last week, we left our two dogs home alone for the first time ever. When we got home, Sophie...Read More

Last week I stumbled on a wonderful idea: author Laurie Halse Anderson challenged writers to write fifteen minutes a day (WFMAD). That’s it. There are no additional rules, no word count goals, no projects to complete—just write for fifteen minutes every single day. I’ve been talking to a number of writers on Twitter about the...Read More

The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium. —Norbet Platt Journaling can offer us the space we need to reflect on our lives and our writing. I have frequently used dialogue to explore challenging feelings or...Read More

It’s been a crazy week in the world, with earthquakes, hurricanes, and flooding. Take the chaos in the world, add in the stress of our personal lives, and it can be hard to settle down and write. Today’s tip is the last in our summer series on favorite writing books. It addresses the age-old problem...Read More

I’m writing this on Thursday at 5:00 PM. Like my sweet dog Muffin Man, pictured above, I’d rather be napping. I’d intended to blog this morning, but I had to go to the doctor, do laundry, monitor the kids, attend a meeting for work, and answer a few of the emails in my inbox. So...Read More

Full confession I’ve been writing about and recommending books for years, but there are whole genres I do not read. For example, I do not read romance novels. Well, not really. I will admit to spending some wonderful days with chick lit novels like Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary and Katie Fforde’s Wild Designs. Still I am...Read More

Welcome, writers! Don’t forget to join us today at 12:00 PM CDT for the Write Now! Mastermind class with author Kelly Stone on learning how to integrate writing into our daily lives. On the call, I will be giving away a copy of her newest book, Living Write: The Secret to Inviting Your Craft Into...Read More