writing
-
I’ve been reading Dorothea Brande’s Becoming a Writer as part of my weekly craft reading. In his introduction to the text, John Gardner writes that the problems facing new writers haven’t changed much from 1934 (when the volume was first published) to today. There are four key difficulties Brande discusses early in the text: the writer who
-
I saw this time lapse video by Jean-Michel, Timelapse: une araignée tisse sa toile, via BrainPickings several weeks ago and have been meaning to post about it ever since. It seemed, when I watched it, such a perfect metaphor for my process when I enter the drafting stage. I move forward bit by bit each day, spinning
-
Today marks my second weekly intensive writing day since all of The Maple Leaves madness started a few months ago. You could say that I had my share of intensive writing days as I prepped for the show – the process of which I blogged about on our show blog rather than here. Although I spent a lot of
-
I just finished The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. I’ve been reading it since late December. It started as a way of trying to go back to basics and establish a more positive routine. And though it’s been helpful in that regard and routine is the foundation of much of what Tharp talks about,
-
I’ve been editing. This is the hardest part of the process for me. Through Story is a State of Mind, I’ve been cultivating a judgement-free space for my freewriting, for my first drafts. It means I’m able to sit down, to start writing (without too much procrastination), and to allow whatever comes to mind to
-
Where does a story start? For me, it’s always the same: a voice. I hear a line in my head, usually a first line. And it has a specific tone to it – even if it’s coming through a character – and I know, I just know, this is important, this you must get down,
-
If anyone asked me where I write, my answer would probably be: Elsewhere. That might not be the kind of answer people are looking for. They probably want a literal description of my writing space. They want me to talk about the decor (pale blue wallpaper with a silver damask pattern) and the view (the
-
That’s how my exploration of the writing process started several years ago, after I returned to writing after many years not writing. I was preparing my application for a project that was geared at helping develop writers through process exploration, through the foundation of daily practice, through a commitment to the work and to each other.
heather debling 