From the category archives:

Productivity

Should I Write About My Dreams?

Last night before bed I read Decalogue for a Young Writer by Carlos Fuentes. In it, he mentions that he usually plans the next day’s writing before going to bed. He then writes first thing in the morning, following the advice of Alfonso Reyes, who quoted Goethe saying: “The writer must take the cream off [...]

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24-Hour Nonstop Writing – Rules and Regulations

Write nonstop for twenty-four hours? What will emerge? Prior to this endeavor, the longest duration of time for which I’ve sustained focus on a single composition has been around six hours, probably less, and that experience stands out as a transformational one. I am very eager to write for 24 solid hours. This Saturday, Dave [...]

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The Kind of Impatience Which Means to Celebrate the Moment

I stopped for a moment and gave some thought to a potential argument that a poet’s life is measured by a certain number of books. Six books. Three books. Twelve books of poetry and one nonfiction book. Not an argument of quality or quantity, but an argument that looks to the book as the thing [...]

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Coming to a Feeling of Oneness in Artistic Creation

The world loves to produce. We all love to build things. On Process Creation happens in those instants when you have everything at stake and you risk it all.  After creation, something else begins. Something to be regarded, experienced–an object. Something external with its own life and consequences. Maybe there are three steps to creative [...]

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Is Writer’s Block ‘Repeatedly Hitting Your Head’ or ‘Hitting Your Head Repeatedly’

I see a lot of books and tools out there that seek to address or overcome writer’s block. That’s good. It’s good to have a lot of options. Sometimes it’s good to have a distraction (like fussing around with a writer’s block tool instead of writing). I’m going to propose an alternative. Decide to relax. [...]

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