Mary Oliver

And here I am, back with your weekly dose of informal writerly learnings.

Kathryn Craft: the story that holds you back. Hint: it’s the one you tell yourself. Writers in the Storm

Kim Bullock advises you to vanquish emotional overwhelm to increase productivity. Writer Unboxed

Elizabeth Huergo honors Mary Oliver on Writer Unboxed: walk slowly and bow often.

Cathy Yardley guides you from cool idea to premise. Writer Unboxed

Jo Eberhardt mines her (misspent/not misspent) RPG youth: when your characters have minds of their own. Writer Unboxed

K.M. Weiland shares her nine writing goals for 2019. Helping Writers Become Authors

Manuela Williams shares five simple SEO tips for authors. DIY MFA

Pamela Taylor explains how to create authentic details: keeping secrets. DIY MFA

Bess Cozby shares her experience going for six weeks without social media. DIY MFA

Sofia Ashdown shares her top ten editing tips. The Creative Penn

Chuck Wendig explains the story about the story, or, how writers talk about their books. Terribleminds

Becca Puglisi guest posts on Jerry Jenkins’ blog. Got subtext? Writing better dialogue.

Janice Hardy explains what writers need to know about hooks. Fiction University

Chris Winkle shares lessons from The Maze Runner’s point of view disaster. Then, Oren Ashkenazi tackles the problem with oppressed mages. Mythcreants

I post about writer’s grief. WarpWorld

Sangeeta Mehta lists 19 diversity-focused writing conferences and events in 2019. Writer’s Digest

I hope you found something you need to fuel your creative efforts this week.

Come back on Thursday to get your weekly batch of thoughty.

Until then, be well.

I’m beginning to think that the universe is trying to tell me something 😉 Between Tipsday and Thoughty Thursday this week, you’ll see a definite theme developing. Or not . . .

K.M. Weiland continues her common writing mistakes series with part 39: referencing characters by title rather than by name.

In Katie’s Wednesday vlog, she discusses the reasons why avalanches, wolves, and lightning storms may not be the best way to begin your novel.

Roz Morris posts about resilience. I love the image she found—a bear on a trampoline 🙂

In her series on debut author lessons, Mary Robinette Kowal tackles the topic of writing full time. Important to know: as a self-employed professional, if you’re not writing, you are unemployed.

Poet Mary Oliver inspired Anna Elliott to write a post for Writer Unboxed with this line: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Steven Pressfield writes about self-doubt and what the soul knows about keeping you on the true path.

Janice Hardy has started a month-long revision workshop on Fiction University. Start here with her March 1st post and follow along. Great step-by-step analysis of every aspect of your novel.

Here’s a post outlining the principles of ergonomics for writers from the World’s Greatest Book blog.

And because it’s related, here’s the TED-ed video that explains why sitting too much is bad for us:

What Alice in Wonderland reveals about the brain. This could go either on Tipsday or Thoughty Thursday, but because the book is the basis for the article, I’m placing it here. BBC.

When George R. R. Martin was asked how he could write female characters so well, his answer was, “Well, they’re human beings, aren’t they?” When I saw the title of Kate Elliott’s post for Tor.com, I knew it was going to be interesting: writing women characters as human beings.

Women artists re-envision images of their favourite SFF characters. i09.

39 misused words and how to use them correctly. Time.

How Catriona Balfe nailed her audition with one line. TV Line.

Pets who’d rather you pet them than read. The Dodo.

That’s a wrap!

See you Thursday 🙂