It’s overcast in L.A. today – May Gray soon to become June Gloom – the sky feels like it’s pressing down on my head, pushing any creative inclination out of my cranky brain. So I thought I’d do something really lazy and just post an article I wrote a few years ago about doing five…
This seems to be all anyone talks about in L.A. this week.The heat. Everybody’s hot and cranky. I’ve lived in Southern California a long time, years and years, and this is the first time I can remember it being this hot at the beach in October. At noon today it’s going to be 91 degrees…
It’s gray in Santa Monica early this morning. The sky, the inside of my head, all gray fluffy stuff. I need inspiration. Stiff words march across my computer screen. Like little soldiers. So earnest that I want to press delete. Instead I open Safekeeping by Abigail Thomas, read a bit, and words start to bloom…
This morning Nelson and I were walking on the beach as we do every morning at six – today a gorgeous, sunny morning – and we passed a woman who said "No dogs on the beach!" This woman is a regular on the bike path and always says this when she passes Nelson and me.…
How scary it can be to start writing. Or to keep writing. Or to go back to writing. But we all have to take the leap, one way or another. I'm warming up to resume work on my book after a week's vacation. (I mean it was a real vacation; I didn't keep working as…
Some good advice via my publisher Marc Allen and the New World Library blog. Thursday, December 29, 2011 "Five Steps to Writing Well and Getting Published" by New World Library Publisher, Marc AllenPOSTED BY NEW WORLD LIBRARY I read an article by Gary Provost a while ago where he outlined the steps for…
And then one morning (after a good night's sleep, a short session of yoga and a two mile run, and fueled with coffee) you sit down at your desk and dip back into your manuscript – and you think, hey, this isn't as bad as I thought it was. This happens over and over again…
So Rob Daly and I are now working on a book trailer for CHERISHED. This is a 90 second video designed to catch your attention, move you, and make you want to order the book instantly. Right, it ain't easy. In my infinite wisdom I thought maybe an interview with me telling how the book…
After every seven entries in A Year of Writing Dangerously (the book I'm now working on) I have a Writing Workout – a list of five writing prompts or things to do based on the entries that came before. Here's an example: (and please let me know if any work for you.) Writing Workout: 1.…
Recently there was a snarky article in the New York Times Book Review suggesting that too many people are writing and publishing memoirs, and who wants to read another book about owning a crazy dog, losing weight, depression, cancer, trying to adopt, etc. My advice is to ignore this kind of stuff. If you…
