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 […]

Nowhere do the differences between Sensing and Intuitive personalities show up as clearly as in how each prefers to use language. Since style of communication is considered one of the most significant of human differences, it’s worth examining how this component of personality affects the way we write, and to learn how to write a […]

Making something from nothing is one of the most challenging endeavors humans engage in. After all, creative efforts are rife with uncertainty; outcomes can rarely be assured. So, how, then, do we sustain momentum on long, iffy projects? One answer is to look to those who have succeeded – and note how their advice reflects a reverence for purpose, […]

Carol Test presents to The Scottsdale Society of Women Writers at their Tenth Anniversary Celebration. All artists experience times when they yearn to create yet find themselves unable. But from a scientific standpoint, why might accessing creativity be harder for writers? Recent studies in neuroscience suggest the tools and rituals surrounding writing do not, in themselves, evoke the brain state […]

On the hunt for the best books on writing? Enrich your craft mastery and writing process with these unconventional guides on the art of creativity. For more than a decade, I have been tasked with selecting guides for aspiring authors. I take this seriously: the ideal combination of insight and expertise, couched in compassion and borne […]

All artists experience times when they yearn to create yet find themselves unable. Writers, in particular, seem to struggle with this. They even have a term for it in the OED – and it isn’t called “Dancer’s Block”. From a scientific standpoint, why might accessing creativity be harder for writers? Recent studies in neuroscience posit […]

When The Guardian asked bestselling authors to share their top dos and don’ts of the writing process, I drew upon experience to draft a similar list for students in my creative writing workshops. It came as little surprise that the truths that resonated with me emphasized process more so than any element of craft. Perhaps this is […]