Read What You Love If you’re a writer, I’m assuming you’re also a reader. While there are multitudes of readers who aren’t writers, I can’t imagine there are writers who aren’t readers. This means you can lean into your reader-self as … Continue reading →

Own Your Role On a recent trip to Greece, I visited Atlantis Books on the island of Santorini. On a cliff, overlooking the Aegean Sea, the bookstore is a honeycomb of cave-like rooms, small, yet charming. Whenever I visit an … Continue reading →

Focus on your Actual Goal We often conflate two very distinct, separate goals:  One is fully within our control. We work at our craft; we improve our skill. We get better. We write.  The other is fully outside our control. Even if you … Continue reading →

Writing Is Never Easy Does writing ever get easier?  Yes.  And no.  Yes, you get better with every story, novel, draft, line, sentence. Yes, you improve with every effort, minute, hour, week, resource you put into your craft.  Then you … Continue reading →

The Dangers of Comparison I recently read an interview with a critically acclaimed author, in the form of headings:  I thought about how I’d answer these questions—and then I gave up. Because, wow, none of what might have been my answers would … Continue reading →

Remember Your Progress When I was in the middle of writing the first draft of one of my novels, I stumbled across some old brainstorming notes. I hesitated to read them. I was scared that I’d remember the naïve optimism … Continue reading →

Count Every Minute On a recent road trip, with my husband driving, I was staring out the window.  “What are you thinking, Jen?” he asked to make conversation.  “Nothing,” I replied, my mind blank.  “Really? I thought you said you’re … Continue reading →

Own What You Know The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where individuals with low ability in a specific area overestimate their competence, while those with high ability may underestimate their skills. This is because those lacking expertise don’t know … Continue reading →

Avoiding Procrastination Procrastination and me are old friends. In my journalism days, I lived by the mantra, “that’s what the last minute is for.” Great if you’re on a deadline, but terrible if you’re a writer and, well, the stakes are low.  … Continue reading →

Finding the Encouragement You Need At the gym, I was pushing myself hard, using heavier weights than I normally did. My efforts weren’t pretty, but I was doing it! Until the coach came along and told me to use less weight.  … Continue reading →