Getting up again

There’s a proverb that goes “Fall down seven times, get up eight times”.  I’ve fallen “off” the daily writing habit.  Again.  It’s been over a month since I was writing daily, so I’m going to dust myself off and start the habit again. I know why I fell off.  Usually when I complete a first…

Scrivening with Scrivener

I first came across the word “scrivener” when someone gave me Bartleby the Scrivener to act out in charades.  I didn’t do so well and I always remembered that word.  That darn word.  There is an application called Scrivener by Literature and Latte which is for writers.  It is a mac application, but they’ve developed…

Perseverance trumps talent

Everyone knows the story of the Tortoise and the Hare, right? If not, where have you been for the last three thousand years?  Basically a rabbit and a turtle decide to have a long distance race and the rabbit is so fast and so far ahead that he takes a nap before reaching the finish…

Falling Down redux

Okay, so this is the first blog after “publicizing” my goals and what do I have to report?  Uh, I guess it’s a kind of good news/bad news thing.  I like to get the bad news first, so here it is:  I only wrote half a page of script last week.  Half a page?!? I…

Resolutions 2011

Now that we are three weeks into the New Year and the giddy effects of eggnog and champagne are wearing off, I thought I would look soberly at my resolutions for 2011.  I know, resolutions get a bad rap, because we tend to make grandiose resolutions thinking of what we could accomplish in a year,…

What Bar are you measuring yourself by?

Last month, I was at a two day workshop by Yael Farber at Nightwood Theatre.  She’s a writer/director/performer from South Africa.  The workshop was called “Playing With Fire” and was described as: A unique, intensive master class facilitated by Yael Farber for actors and performing artists / creators, writers and directors interested to deepen their…

Pass the Dip, please

In the quest to become really good at something, according to Seth Godin’s book The Dip, you need to get past the dip.  No, not the thing you dunk potato chips into.  Hmm.  Dip… The dip that Godin is talking about is that space between being okay at something and becoming a master of something.…

Keeping the Magic Secret

When people find out that I’m a writer, they often ask what I’m working on.  If I’m in the throes of a first draft, I’ll mumble something about not liking to talk about my work.  It’s hard to explain, but I have found from experience that if I talk about a project before a first…

Keeping the Magic Alive

Whoo hoo!  I’m on Day 6 of WAPAD.  And I did my writing quota today and it’s a Saturday.  However, even though I was only a page and a bit into my project (a musical adaptation of a one of my short stories), I have moved on to another project.  Why?  The other story excites…

You Can’t Do it All

It’s Day 4 of the WAPAD and I have gotten in my quarter page a day.  It seems ridiculously easy, but I have found myself still wanting to skip it a couple of times this week.  However, I tell myself that it is only a little thing and get it done.  The key for me…