Things that feel like a waste of time, like taking a shower or exercising or folding the laundry, can be put to good use as times of creative incubation. Try This Don’t waste your shower by taking it first thing in the morning. Instead, get to work on your creative project right away. Your decision-tank …
Category Archives: Productivity
Please Finish Your Story
Remember that story you started last week? (Or maybe it was last month, or a few years ago.) We want to hear the rest of it. In fact, we would like to purchase a publication that contains it and read it in print. But you haven’t finished it, have you? That’s okay, I understand. I …
No Enterprise
Warning: This essay contains a very minor spoiler (not plot significant) for the third book in the Bloody Jack series. I’m in the movie theater watching Star Trek: Beyond. I haven’t gone in blind, and I’m finding much to complain about. But although my mind is churning on dialogue problems and weird plot choices, my …
We Welcome All Writing
At Write to the End, we do two main activities: We write, and we welcome all writing. These two activities are the foundation of our group. Welcome. I welcome you, and I welcome your writing. All of your writing, not just the parts you think are worth welcoming. I use Natalie Goldberg’s method of writing …
Colorless Green Ideas Crashed My Car
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Your Right to Say Things that Don’t Make Sense
Syntax gives us the power to say things that don’t make sense: Ideas can’t have color (or crash a car), and something colorless can’t also be green, but I can say “colorless green ideas crashed my car,” and you can understand me, even if you’re quite not sure what I mean. The structure of a …
“I want these but don’t know how.”
What do you do with the pieces you don’t yet have the skill to finish? I used to leave them around in notebooks and never finish them. Half-abandoned, half-forgotten, they were a source of nebulous anxiety, though I vaguely planned to get back to them someday. Sometimes I’d remember one and think, “Hey, I know what …
The Serving Dinner Model of Publishing
Do you have a pile of unfinished pieces? Would you like to find a way to finish more projects? Here’s a method I’m using that helps me. (Note: It’s normal for creative people to start many more projects than they finish, so please never feel bad about that pile again. But you can improve your …
Keiko’s Gardening Tips
I had a dream that I was in a workshop where we had to practice giving a presentation off the top of our heads. I chose gardening, even though I have not succeeded at that. Here is my presentation. I came up with the tips as I was talking. “Have you wanted to grow a …
The Practice and Magic of Writing Every Day
I am not working at a job right now. I accepted a retirement package from work and am taking this time (and money) to write. I plan to return to work in about 6 months, and right now I write. I have been writing since May 1. For me, every day, every morning is a …
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My New Writing Coach
I’m going to be my own writing coach. I will read my first draft of the story I’m working on, and I’ll say to myself, “Hey, Keiko, this is really good! Keep working on it!” I will reply, “Really?” “Yes!” I’ll say. I’ll be so enthusiastic I will convince myself. I will say, “Write a …