From the monthly archives:

March 2010

Why Are You Writing?

March 30, 2010
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Is it the lure of fame? Fortune? An easy life of spinning tales when inspiration strikes? Seeing the country on book tours? These dreams are fine as long as you continue writing when they don’t materialize. Chances are, they won’t. Sorry. Statistically speaking, you probably won’t be the next James Patterson. (My chances are equally [...]

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Why I’m Glad Modeling Isn’t My Passion

March 24, 2010
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This year marks a big high school reunion for me. You know, one of those milestones that end in a zero? Let’s just say that it’s made me do a lot of thinking about life and my current position relative to where I thought or hoped I’d be. When I graduated from high school, the [...]

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Make Your Writing Personal

March 15, 2010
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It seems to me that much of our angst surrounding writing comes from not producing the stuff for public consumption: that novel, short story, screenplay, you name it. Journals, diaries, even morning pages are easier because we’re pretty confident no one else will ever read them. Those are our private rants, never to be judged. [...]

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Tuning out the World

March 12, 2010
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Many people work better with music in the background. That’s their spoonful of sugar to make the work day fun. I’ve always been more of an “enjoy the silence” kind of gal. Music distracts me. I’ll catch myself singing along, and the song derails whatever train of thought I was hoping to catch. Television and [...]

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Paper Madeleines

March 8, 2010
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A year ago, I was perusing the shelves of a bookstore in Taiwan. Despite the fact that I can’t read Chinese, the store still fascinated me: dual-language cookbooks, translations of English bestsellers, dramatic covers that told the tale of the contents (though we can’t judge books thus… ahem!). Suddenly, I turned and discovered the holy [...]

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A Spoonful of Sugar

March 2, 2010
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Writing can be a creative art, but it also requires discipline. Sheer willpower, however, isn’t a strategy for long-term success. You inevitably get tired, cranky and resentful. I do. That’s why I started looking for ways to make the writing process enjoyable. If you don’t like to do something, you won’t do it. Not for [...]

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Mind Over Matter

March 1, 2010
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Sometimes the writing comes easy. Sometimes it’s like hauling a forty-pound bag up the stairs at Penn Station. Regardless, you have to keep at it. If you’re serious about writing, you don’t have the luxury of waiting for inspiration to strike. Besides, those feelings about “good” writing days and “bad” writing days don’t mean jack [...]

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