Last week, a friend of mine asked me – in a tone of desperation – why he can’t prioritize his writing. He’s tried everything: writing in short bursts at lunch …
How To Maintain Creative Focus During Difficult Times
Transparent moment: These past two weeks have been challenging on the home front. My husband, who is living with a chronic illness, needed to be taken to the emergency room …
Writing Advice: What To Do When You’re Stuck
When you started your writing project, you were flooded with inspiration. It seemed like the words couldn’t come fast enough as your descriptions, characters, and plot spilled onto the paper …
How To Overcome The “Messy Middle”
The Messy Middle is that time when writing your manuscript isn’t fun anymore. You feel like you’ve hit the wall, where words have stopped flowing easily and all your efforts …
When There Are No Words
Most often when I return home from a week-long writing retreat I am filled with inspiration, using every spare moment to capture words and images. But this summer… to borrow …
How To Revise Your First Draft
There are three stages of writing: Fresh Writing, Revising, and Polishing. It’s important to know what stage you’re at so your writing can continue to flow with ease. If you …
An Invitation To Marie’s Writing Oasis
I’m passionate about making the practice of writing accessible to those of you who are curious about the process we use in Adventures in Writing programs. I’d love to have …
How Online Writing Groups Create Connection
We have been in the midst of restricted access to friends and loved ones. In many geographic regions, physical distancing has resulted in fewer opportunities for building and maintaining relationships. …
How Non-Judgmental Listening Improves Writers’ Confidence
Writing is about communication, about sharing our words with others who hear the power and the intention underneath what we have written. Developing strong listening skills is critical for anyone’s …
Three Ways to Make Any Description More Interesting
Are you looking for sure-fire ways to ensure your readers are able to visualize the images in your stories? There are many exercises to develop any writer’s ability to notice …