The Recovering Creative - The Writer's Inner Journey

The oak tree is in the acorn (the story is inside you)

You can write about anything; a former job or a current one; a nemesis or archangel; the truth about being a trust fund baby, or growing up on the streets. The key is to find the heart of your subject–and this takes practice. Repeated practice. One yoga teacher I knew several years ago reminded students

The oak tree is in the acorn (the story is inside you)

Overcoming unproductive negative self-talk about writing

by Carol Grannick Chiaroscuro (kiːˈɑːrə.ˈskʊroʊ, –ˈskjʊroʊ, Italian for light-dark) in art is characterized by strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for using contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modeling three-dimensional objects such

Overcoming unproductive negative self-talk about writing

What we talk about [to ourselves] when we talk about writing*

“I did the revision which improved the tightness but muddled the arc.”

What we talk about [to ourselves] when we talk about writing*

stuck/unstuck: shame and writing

For a nonfiction writer, particularly one who writes memoir, shame can be a blessing and a curse. Amy Friedman knows. Her most recent book Desperado’s Wife, is the story of her marriage to a prisoner sentenced to life for the murder of another drug dealer. Her essay “Kept Together By The Bars Between Us” appeared

stuck/unstuck: shame and writing

From stuck to unstuck

I was a writer. I was stuck. And stumped.

From stuck to unstuck

Rejection (after rejection)

One of the hidden gems I find most interesting about this blog is the fact that I get to see the search terms that drive people to The Writer’s [Inner] Journey. Once in a while something comes across that has nothing and everything to do with the inner journey of writing. That search term was

Rejection (after rejection)

stuck/unstuck: shame of self and writing anyway

In this series of stuck/unstuck, contributors from Dancing at the Shame Prom on being ashamed, and how it connects to writing. Victoria Zackheim is a creative across many genres: fiction, nonfiction, plays, television. She is a writer, teacher, editor and a 2010 San Francisco Library Laureate. Her book – as author or editor – include:

stuck/unstuck: shame of self and writing anyway

stuck/unstuck: how shame affects writing

In this stuck/unstuck: on being ashamed, and how it connects to writing. Meredith: Shame is kind of sticky – as a concept and a something that we live with in our lives. The more we try to shake it, the more we’re reminded of it, and how we feel it, and that that we don’t

stuck/unstuck: how shame affects writing

stuck/unstuck: fear and awareness

This issue of stuck/unstuck was inspired by my re-listening to a book by Eckhart Tolle. This is the email I sent to Alisa Bowman, asking if she might reflect: I was I was recently listening to Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth for the second time, and heard him say (paraphrasing) not to try to get

stuck/unstuck: fear and awareness