Why the story we tell ourselves is the most important we’ll ever tell…and the impact it has on our ability to manage our inner critic, imposter syndrome and to get our work done.
Dr. Julie Helmrich, psychologist and founder of Iron Psych specializes in change fluency and narrative, and is my guest this week, talking about psychological fitness for writers.
Links:
Dr. Helmrich’s site: https://juliehelmrich.com/
Writing prompt: https://storyaday.org/wow-customs
Does writing have to be a struggle? What if your writing felt inevitable? What impact would that have on your life?
If not, you could find yourself, two weeks from now having written nothing, unsure of what you want to be writing, struggling to find your rhythm again.
I have mindset change to make you joyfully productive. Read on…
Imagine, instead, that you had a plan for the first two weeks of October. What would that look like?
Continue reading “What if writing was inevitable?”
I gave up on a story today.
It wasn’t a horribly-written story. In fact, it had amused me and a couple of other people who’d read it. My critique group had given me stunningly insightful feedback on what I needed to do to take it from ‘promising’ to ‘good’.
But instead, I put it away and will probably never look at it again.
This is a question that comes up surprisingly often among writers.
Wouldn’t you think we’d KNOW if a story was worth working on, or whether it should be consigned to the darkest recesses of our cloud drives, never to be accessed again?
Continue reading “When To Abandon A Short Story”
‘Creative’ is not a noun…Lots of people want to be the noun without doing the verb. They want the job title, not the work.”
Austin Kleon, Keep Going
I read Chapter 3 of Kleon’s latest book this morning and it stopped me in my tracks.
Not because I didn’t know and understand what he said.
I have, after all, made a name for myself as the person who entices writers to actually write during May & September every year.
But because it made me wonder: am I actually doing the verb?
The only qualification to be a ‘Superstar” is a desire to write and support your fellow writers.
A supportive group of committed writers, who meet virtually, support each other’s efforts, and inspire each other.
Registration for 2024 open now-June 8, 2024
A 6-part journey through the short story.
Starts Jan 3, 2025
