Just for 15 minutes

Writers like me, have a love hate relationship with actually writing. We love to write. LOVE it, and hate to write - because it's so difficult. Anne Lamott says, writers like this like to 'have written' but the actually writing part is what they don't like. I am not quite that bad. I also like the writing part, it's just that - well it's killing me. Like today, I tried to write for just 15 minutes. And I wrote a great 300 words. Then spent (and I'm not making this up) the next 45 minutes editing those 300 words. I'm still not happy with the way the piece reads. But, at least I've written. So, my encouragement for you today is to just set the timer for 15 minutes. It's a great limit and anyone can find 15 min. Even if you are the busy mother of four - you can do it in 5 minute segments. And write. Then even if you are like me and have to edit for 45 minutes after your 15 minutes of writing - you will at least be able to say, you 'have written'. Go on, do it.

A Great Book about the Writing Life

OK, I love this book: A BROOM OF ONE'S OWN by NANCY PEACOCK. This woman/author is a housekeeper in her day job. And she writes about how her housekeeping fits in with her writing life. She has so much grace and wisdom in her book A BROOM OF ONE'S OWN - that I almost feel gauche reviewing her book. Now, don't dis her writing, just because she is a maid (as some people wondered if I, as a Flight Attendant could ever have anything to say...). Her Novel, LIFE WITHOUT WATER was a New York Times Editor's Choice. And her book on writing - well, let's just say it's a classic. If you are someone who thinks 'if only I had time to write' this book is for you. If you are someone who thinks, 'if I was a writer FULL TIME, then I'd get things done' this book is for you. One of my favorite quotes in the book, and there are many...is when Nancy says, "Every writer has to work with what he or she has and I can tell you, there is no such thing as a perfect writing life." She says later, "We all have to learn to work anyway, no matter what is going on around us.' If you are a writer - and I am the author of several books - so I qualify - or if you are a wanna be writer - as all writer's once were: then buy this book, it will help you get where you want to go - faster and with more confidence!

How to get cadence in your writing.

Good writing has a cadence - a cadence that cannot be found in simple speech. It can only be discovered after we put words down, and move them around, shuffle them until they read with a cadence. But, how does one learn where to move those words, so they have a cadence? The same way a musician learns to play any instrument. Practice. Some musicians are born with a good ear,they can play almost anything by ear. They instictively know cadence, but most people who play instruments must learn to play the old fashioned way, long hours, alone with nothing but practice. And at first those efforts do not produce anything that anyone is going to rave about. They share notes, and screaching noises until one day - usually years later - practice brings them to laud and acclaim. It's like that with most writers, we might be born with a love of words, but the beauty of cadence in our writing, comes only after years of practice.