the full post

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” […]

Inspiration, The Writing Process
December 17, 2021
15-Minute Lit: How to Write Every Day
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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 […]

The Creative Life, The Writing Process
November 18, 2021
Connect with Your Artistic Ancestors
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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 […]

The Creative Life, The Writing Process
October 1, 2021
Do You Have Writer’s Block Because You Are Writing in America?
America writers block
the full post

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 […]

Inspiration, Myers-Briggs and Writing, The Writing Process
June 16, 2018
An Intuitive Approach to The Writing Process
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Can you make a living as a writer? Is writing worth the time and effort if we can’t make money from our creative endeavors? Am I even a “real writer” if I don’t make a living from my writing? The Writing Cycle’s upcoming coaching series explores the anxiety that arises when the need for market value collides with personal motivations for making art. This […]

Inspiration, Publishing, The Creative Life
April 28, 2018
Can You Make a Living as a Writer?
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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 […]

Inspiration, The Writing Process
January 11, 2018
Best Quotes: Julia Cameron on Writer’s Block
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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 […]

Local and Live, The Writing Process
September 1, 2015
Scottsdale Society of Women Writers Welcomes Carol Test
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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 […]

Inspiration, The Writing Process
March 31, 2015
A Portable MFA: The Best Books on Writing
best books on writing
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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 […]

The Writing Process
March 1, 2015
It Isn’t Called Dancer’s Block: Neuroscience on Writer’s Block
writers block
the full post

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 […]

The Writing Process
February 22, 2015
10 Rules for Creative Writing
rules for creative writing

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