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Watch and imagine
Practice! Musicians and athletes do it. Writers don’t often admit it, but we do, too, though maybe not as persistently as we could. I start every day with my notebook and write at least three pages, but those pages can be less than useful if I get trapped in my own reality. I need to…
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Talk, Talk, Talk
Lately, it seems I talk a lot. Possibly, more than is helpful. On Sunday I talked to a group of people about poetry. They were all adults (Kids and poetry startle me, like giving them too much sugar, so they get squirrely). We talked about the essential concerns I see in writing poems. Like getting…
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A Novel Approach
Writing a novel is work; no news there. But it helps to gain perspective from other writers. I was feeling stuck about the plot line for my work in progress, hiking up a steep slope with no idea how to reach the summit. Not a good idea for a Coloradan. So, in desperation I checked…
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What a Writer Needs
Packing for a roadtrip to Telluride CO for a poetry weekend. And I’m suffering my usual doubts and desires about packing. After many years of writing I know, sort of, what I need to get writing done. But traveling means that I can’t have it all. I cannot take along my office space or my…
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Distraction vs Research
How do I manage to waste so much of my time? I make lists of things to do, writing things, but seldom complete the checking off, often moving a task to the next list. Aargh! I was efficient in my professional paid work for over four decades. Now I fritter away an hour or more…
Karen Douglass, Author 