I once read that if you want to be a writer, you must take an ax to the rest of your life. Writing, like other arts, demands time. You need time to create. Time to ruminate. Time to rethink and revise. You even need time to share and promote your work. Then, when you start to build … Read more
Fiction writers, does this sound familiar? “I want to write a story, but I don’t have any ideas!” YAWN. Look, I know the feeling. But you can’t use that excuse anymore. Why? Because I’m about to give you a story-generating tool that’ll leave you with no excuses. Except maybe that you have no time. I respect … Read more
It’s no joke to say that poetry keeps us alive. I suppose you could say the same of any beautiful thing — or, to be more precise, any truly beautiful thing. That could be art, music, Creation, or simply a smile. Beauty is part of what makes life worth living. It can lift the soul and give it … Read more
Foreign language? … Say what? Trust me, it’s not as crazy as it sounds, nor as far out of reach as you may think. Let me make one thing clear, right from the beginning: you don’t need to speak like a native, or even have advanced foreign language skills. You simply need to know enough to string together coherent … Read more
Need some inspiration? (Or maybe a kick in the pants?) Over at my favorite creative forum, deviantART, there’s a “100 Themes Challenge” going around. As the name suggests, you get a list of 100 themes (I like to think of them as points of departure) that you turn into 100 new creations. I think it was … Read more