Last year was one of the busiest I’ve had in a long time. Here is some of what I learned: 1. Teaching is much harder than it looks. After teaching intro composition at a college last year, I have a profound appreciation and admiration for teachers. The work is hard, it is intense, it is… Continue reading Prize-Winning Dandelions and the Best Time to Write: What I Learned in 2014
Category: Creativity and Productivity
Writing When You Only Have Moments to Spare
To follow up on my earlier post about “The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.,” the DVD version features a fascinating conversation among the show’s writers, who came together to talk about the experience of creating 27 episodes in one season. They described a “war-like environment” and some pretty insane deadlines — perhaps best summed up… Continue reading Writing When You Only Have Moments to Spare
The Art of Revision — And Why You Should Love It
Writing, like just about any creative pursuit, is a process. That process begins with exploring ideas, writing a first draft (which is where many people romantically think writing ends) and then revising, revising, revising. Writers who are now in the throes of National Novel Writing Month are in that starry-eyed first-draft stage. That is a… Continue reading The Art of Revision — And Why You Should Love It
The Pleasures of Stacking Firewood
Since I moved (see previous post), my life is busy in different ways. Here are some of my new distractions: caring for the three geese and one duck we inherited from the previous owners, maintaining an amazing series of gardens, and hauling and stacking firewood for our furnace. Wood is cheaper to burn than any… Continue reading The Pleasures of Stacking Firewood
Why I Haven’t Been Blogging: Part 2
My teaching gig ended in May, and in June, I packed up and moved several hundred miles up the East Coast. More dramatically, I moved from bustling suburban sprawl (and a townhouse whose tiny yard was little bigger than the back deck) to five beautiful acres on the outskirts of a small New England town.… Continue reading Why I Haven’t Been Blogging: Part 2
Why I Haven’t Been Blogging: Part 1
It’s been a while since my last post, but I haven’t been idle. I’ve been busy in unexpected ways. I was making some good progress on restructuring my novel when I got an offer to teach intro composition at the local community college. I had some concerns about maintaining my writing schedule, but I naively… Continue reading Why I Haven’t Been Blogging: Part 1
Writing inspiration from Don Cheadle
When I was driving the other day, I caught an interview with actor Don Cheadle ("Hotel Rwanda," "Traitor," "House of Lies") on NPR. He struck me as a thoughtful, open, honest man. He was asked what advice he would give to actors trying to break into the business. He said it’s more difficult now than… Continue reading Writing inspiration from Don Cheadle
The value of play
I’ve been trying another technique Roseanne Bane recommends in "Around the Writer’s Block" — something she calls Process and I call playtime. It’s about doing something fun that puts you in the creative flow. Her argument is that by engaging in creative play for play’s sake, you increase your ability to draw on your creative… Continue reading The value of play
Using a timer to break down resistance
Among the tricks in Roseanne Bane’s "Around the Writer’s Block" is one I’ve heard elsewhere: using a timer to get yourself to sit still long enough to focus. I recently gave it a try and now I’m hooked. I often spin my wheels and take a long time to settle down during a writing session,… Continue reading Using a timer to break down resistance
The science behind writer’s block
We’ve all experienced it, that feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach when you sit down to write. When all the negative feedback you’ve ever gotten and the prospect of the hard work ahead of you is overwhelming to the point that you’d rather do anything — vacuum, alphabetize your book collection, clean… Continue reading The science behind writer’s block
How to log more writing time
The most useful piece of writing advice I have ever read—and followed—is Gregory Martin’s treadmill journal technique. Martin, who teaches at the University of New Mexico, cuts through the romanticism of only writing when you’re inspired and said students who believe writing should be fun and spontaneous “become highly accomplished at writing unpublishable first drafts.”… Continue reading How to log more writing time
A pawn’s-eye view of the Second Battle of Manassas
I know there are people who go to battlefields to get a sense of the grand, strategic sweep of the thing, to study tactics and imagine armies arrayed like chess pieces across the fields and hills. But I am much more interested in the individual soldier’s experience. The guides at Manassas National Battlefield Park are… Continue reading A pawn’s-eye view of the Second Battle of Manassas
Terri J. Huck 