HOW MUCH DO YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW TO BEGIN? Stuck on how to structure a novel? Should you outline first? Or free write to find out what happens along the way?  Writing is a journey. And while any trip remains an adventure, you wouldn’t leave home without a map or ultimate destination. When you […]

READY TO WRITE A MEMOIR? NAIL 3 THINGS BEFORE YOU BEGIN. Perhaps you have no idea what elements are essential for a successful memoir, or you’re stuck on how to start your book. Should you outline first, and then fill it in? Or free write to find out what happens along the way? Writing is […]

Why it’s essential we make space for creativity in daily life—and how to do it. You might think adding time to write into your weekly flow would prove easy—after all, you carry out a variety of practical tasks. But if you’ve tried and failed to establish a regular routine, and assumed this meant you weren’t a “real” […]

Can your influences help you around writer’s block? In Do You Have Writer’s Block Because You Are Writing in America?, I explored systemic baggage which impacts any American who sits down to write.  When it comes to writer’s block, writers are afraid, but not only afraid. They are also: Disconnected from a larger purpose for creating.  Disconnected from one another.  Disconnected from […]

What’s the difference? Most clients who reach out don’t really know what a book coach does versus what services an editor offers.   They may not even know exactly what their manuscript needs.  Often, all authors intuit is: they can’t finish / they want feedback / they need to know if a book is on the […]

The Writing Cycle explores how professional anxiety impacts creativity when the need for market value collides with personal motivations for making art. In this series, I explored ways American Cultural Mythologies Cause Writer’s Block. Next month, I’ll offer exercises to help you Write Accessibly in Everyday Life and Reconnect with Your Artistic Ancestors. Here, you will define your life […]

Q: As far back as I can remember, I felt called to be a creative writer. But what do I do if the calling doesn’t pay the bills? Can I even call myself a real writer?  A: When it comes to writing of any type . . . it’s a dirty secret: nobody wants to talk […]

BOOK DEVELOPMENT: THE MINDSET PIECE  When we build your book together in #WRITTEN, The Writing Cycle’s 4-Month One-on-One Coaching Program, I first emphasize the importance of mindset work.  This is the piece many writers skip when they set out to go from concept to development. Of course, you need to be passionate about an idea. […]

As a young writer, I assumed everyone had a process similar to my own. It was only in an MFA that it dawned on me most writers do not work the way I do. This distinction increased starkly once outside an academic environment. Bestselling guides advocated following concrete rules, and, above all, chasing market trends. Community critique groups […]

For more than three decades, The Artist’s Way author Julia Cameron has been offering compassionate insight on the challenges of creativity. Her tools help writers overcome writer’s block by exploring how fear manifests as procrastination, the relationship between creativity and the unconscious, and by helping authors design not merely a “writing career”, but a creative life. The Writing Cycle has selected Cameron’s ten most resonant quotes […]