By Apryl Duncan You stare at the blank page. The white of the page embeds itself in your brain, resulting in your mind going blank. Breaking out of the block doesn’t have to be a mind-boggling challenge, though. Explore the causes and the cure and you’ll be writing again in no time. Common Causes Unrealistic … Read more
Review by J. Kristin Dreyer The Writer’s Block: 786 Ideas To Jump-Start Your Imagination by Jason Rekulak Running Press March, 2001 672 pages 8 AM — You sit down in front of your computer, eager to get to work on The Great American Novel (or even The Decent American Novel, for that matter). You open … Read more
By Erica Miner Anne Frank . . . Virginia Woolf . . . Anais Nin . . . Sylvia Plath . . . Henry David Thoreau . . . James M. Barrie . . . Franz Kafka . . . Samuel Pepys . . . Some of these authors are best known for their journals; others have used journaling as both a source of inspiration and a stepping-stone to self-enlightenment. But … Read more
By Monica Di Santi Humor, which is the ability to find a comic or amusing quality in a situation, action or group of ideas, can help you not only to laugh and have fun, but it can be a great tool to help you harvest new ideas, overcome writer’s block and improve your craft. To … Read more
By Magdalena Ball “You can write a novel in 14 days or less!” Sound familiar? I’ve seen a number of advertisements recently selling “how-to” guides on speedwriting. They offer some tempting promises, including that you will be able to (guaranteed!) write a fabulous book, either fiction or nonfiction, within a very short space of time, … Read more
By Magdalena Ball You’ve got writer’s block? So did I, for more than five years. I had plenty of grand ideas about what I wanted to write —the literary masterpieces which would stun the critics, the lofty poetry. With idols and role models like Joyce, Woolf, Yeats and Faulker, it isn’t surprising that my meager … Read more
By Uma Girish I often feel like a motor car, for I have starting trouble. Pen poised over paper, I wait for the words to trickle. Rarely do they gush from the word “go.” When my brain does the freeze-mode act, I flick the computer on and run through my “Favorites” list. I look for … Read more
