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1 Today’s view: a sun-baked Cairo street, which I’m observing from a shady, cool Cairo cafe. I’m drinking Turkish coffee and smoking double apple sheesha as payment for electricity and wifi. The mid-day prayer is on the radio in the background. One of the waiters refreshes my coals, the other unobtrusively prays. The hostess leans … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

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1 In On Writing, Stephen King describes how, after he faced up to his alcoholism, he rearranged his writing room, getting rid of the massive desk that used to dominate it, and replacing it with a smaller one, which sat in a corner of the room, while a couch and armchairs, where his kids could … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

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i Me, on every third or fourth Monday morning: Why am I even in this job? Today is the day they find out they made a huge mistake and shouldn’t have hired me. Have I been here long enough to get any kind of severance? Am I ever going to get another job? Me, on … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

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i Get up. No, really. Pull off the covers and get up, get out of bed. Feet into slippers. Aren’t you glad you bought those when you did—these floors are cold and the fur inside the slippers so soft… Pause. Enjoy this first joy of the morning. Yes? Now, dressing gown on. Good. Look at … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

writing writers and writing
I’ve been thinking about killing grandma for days—weeks, maybe even months—and today, I’m finally going to do it. Don’t feel bad for her. She’s ninety-three—maybe even ninety-seven, I have to double-check, hey, don’t judge, she doesn’t keep count anymore, not since she’s outlived all her friends—Mabel was the last to go, at ninety-two—and she’s had... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

writers and writing writing
i I have a problem. I’m about to turn 50 and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. That’s the question we inflict on children as soon as they master more than a dozen words. First day of preschool, first time you play with a fire truck or dinosaur: … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.wordpress.com

writers and writing writing
It’s easy to write when you know what story you want to tell. When I teach writing, whether creative or business, at some point I always insert this truism: Writing is easy. Thinking is hard. Solution: Don’t write and think at the same time. I’m currently not writing — this may confuse you, as you’re … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

writers and writing writing
1 Today, I miss the privacy of public writing. Not a paradox — if you write publicly but anonymously (or under a pseudonym no one’s yet cracked), you have a freedom that disappears as soon as you’ve outed yourself (or been outed).  When your public writing is fully attributable — when you are identified in … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

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Did you know, when you start a WordPress blog, it comes with a draft post that walks a ew blogger through what to write, where (not so much how). Its headline is ‘Hello, World.’ Cute, innit? Hello, World. I’m here, writing, emoting, sharing. Are you paying attention? (It isn’t.) It’s been a slow blogging summer … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

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i I began the year with three and a half exhilarating weeks at work, followed by a massive setback/roadblock/slam into a brick wall that had me screaming, not just into a pillow, but into my headset on a Teams call—my director slid off their headphones so as not to puncture their eardrums—and plunged me into … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

writers and writing at least mildly sappy
i Hobbit hole. Baby, it’s cold outside, and the fireplace is roaring. The Giant Beast is sprawled on the couch beside me; the Svelte Beat is roaming the tiny apartment as if it were the Serengeti. I’ve got a cup of Turkish coffee beside me, and a lover tidying up in the bathroom. I’m writing. … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

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The tree – fake, prelit, about five feet tall, $50 on Kijiji – is up. Fifty dollars, tbh, seems a bit high for a hand-me down tree. I mean, you don’t need it anymore because you bought a $300 or $900 new fake tree this year. You should, by rights, be paying me to take … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

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i I’m doing writer stretches this morning. Word plus word plus word equals sentence. Two or three of those make a paragraph—except this one, it stands alone, and this one is fat, seven sentences long. Hmmm, take the scalpel that is the return key and split that chunker in half. I’m not saying you can’t … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

writers and writing pandemic diary
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In the process journal: A page and a half of rambling about—I’m not quite sure, either why I hate Facebook or why I hate people. Big X. Note to self: “This is not going anywhere.” Visit to JuliaCameronLive.com. Surely, my guru has something for me? Yes. “The Power of Creativity in the Time of the … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.wordpress.com

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i For the second time in my life—no, wait, third—I’m having a hard time writing. For someone who does not believe in writer’s block, this is a most humbling admission. And when I say I’m having a hard time writing—I should clarify. I’m still writing for money. And I’m practicing in the Morning Pages. But … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

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i On the mornings when Bumblebee the beast sleeps at my house, I start my morning serving the biological needs of the pets. The dog’s bladder trumps the cat’s stomach—although by the dirty look I get as I slide on a coat over my pyjamas and put a leash on the Bumblebee, it’s clear that … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.wordpress.com

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One year ago, I started a new job. It was—is—my first Monday-to-Friday, 9-5 (more like 7-3, because I work on Toronto time, really, well, 7-5, because also, Calgary and Vancouver—point: people expect me to be reachable from 7 a.m. until whenever it is that they finish work)—and I haven’t had to pay attention to days … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.wordpress.com

chaos unadvice toolbox writers and writing at least mildly sappy drama on the page routines
Have you ever noticed that the people who tell you “I’m not the type of person who…” are guaranteed to be the type of person who, precisely that? And, the people who tell you, at every turn, “No drama, please!” and criticize friends, lovers, and strangers for bringing drama into their lives—they aren’t just drama … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

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1 I did a very stupid thing this weekend. I sampled a decade of my Morning Pages. I didn’t plan to. It just happened. But wait. I’m telling the story badly. Morning Pages are the foundational practice of The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron’s 12 week recovery program for blocked creatives. Shut up. I know it … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

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Monday It’s a travel day, and I’m at the airport by 5:30 a.m., on the airplane before 7. The plane is half-empty, which never seems to happen these days, and it’s glorious. There’s nobody next to me and I sprawl. Glorious. I take the awkward “on the plane but no laptops” time to read a … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

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Sometimes, my cat sees things that I don’t see—and yes, this freaks me out. What can a cat see that I don’t see? It can only be three things, really: rodents, insects, or ghosts. Of the three, there’s only one I don’t mind having in my house—and it’s not mice. Or insects. My daughter mocks … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.wordpress.com

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I recently was reminded of Eric Maisel’s book, LIVING THE WRITER’S LIFE. I pulled it off my shelf, opened it to see the many highlighted passages. I was surprised. I had read the book so thoroughly as to make that many highlights, and yet each one seemed like reading the thought for the first time. … ... mehr auf curtissannmatlock.wordpress.com

writers and writing books artifacts collections
First, an apology for the title slug. I know you’re all sick and tired of plays on A Love in the Time of Cholera. Still. There’s a reason we’re doing it. Second… but really first: i. A catalogue I recently moved, and as part of the uprooting, I culled my physical books to the essentials. … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

emily dickinson craft of writing writers and writing
Sometimes, posts, articles, opinion pieces—ideas for novels, stories—go nowhere. You keep on putting words down on paper—or screen—but they don’t really connect. There is no spine—no blood. They are stitches in an inanimate rag doll that, no matter what you do, will not come to life. When that happens, I think the idea is not … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.wordpress.com

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i Me, in bed, much coffee, a bare foot sticking out from between tangled blankets, notebook, leaky fountain pen. Morning pages done but not yet quite ready to work—unfinished business? Sneezes—not COVID-19 and not a common cold—I think I’m allergic to my feather pillows, oh, but they are so comfortable! Achoo. Mentoring a writer and … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.wordpress.com

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i I just wrote a post about how we need to stop trying to save the unvaccinated and build their resistance and refusal to save themselves into public health policy. You don’t get to read it, because, in the end, I don’t think it’s worth sharing—you don’t change anyone’s mind by calling them too stupid … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

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i I pick up my Ender from his homeschool school—like school, but part-time, like school, but for weird, unsocialized homeschoolers, like school, but you can tell the teachers you don’t care about academics and grade level and if you see them screwing up your kid’s love of learning and confidence—OMG, none of this is relevant … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.wordpress.com

writers and writing process
My inner artist is very lazy these days, and much as I know that the only way to want to work is to start to work—desire comes from action—my default mode is still inertia and exhaustion. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not just sitting on my couch eating bonbons. I doing all the things that bring … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

procrastination writing writers and writing
I’m on page 136 of 250 in a bright yellow Leuchtturm 1917 hardcover notebook — my favourite notebook type and brand, yes, I’ve just inserted an unpaid product placement in this post, sorry. Each notebook lasts me two to three months. It’s where the Morning Pages and first drafts of posts, skeleton sketches of ideas … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

work unadvice toolbox writers and writing
So the therapist I’m working with now – wait, before I tell you that, a caveat – the therapist I’m working with now exists only in my imagination, because the last one was so bad. But that’s ok. I have a fecund imagination and I’m a Gemini: magicking up a virtual therapist who disagrees with … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

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i The dark, by all the calendars, is on the retreat now. The nights are getting shorter and the days longer, even though we cannot see it yet. Every day, a few more minutes of sunlight. Less than three months until the Equinox. We haven’t made it yet, but it’s possible to think we will … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

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i I’m sitting down with Julia Cameron at the end of an introspective day. Julia writes: Creativity is a spiral path; we pass through the same issues over and over again at slightly differing altitudes. I have written twenty books, some more easily than others. My own perfectionism is not banished, just disguised. Now I … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com

writers and writing writing practice
i The thing about being an artist, a creator, a maker – you’re never really alone. What a gift that is. A quiet moment, a lull, a boring party, your friend 20 minutes late for a coffee meet. A notebook, your sketchbook, the laptop. A few minutes for your creative practice. Don’t doom scroll. Describe … ... mehr auf nothingbythebook.com