Amy Tan on Creativity

This TED presentation is from 2008, but it covers an interesting aspect of creativity. Acclaimed author Amy Tan talks about the discomfort we often feel in the face of ambiguity. She describes how she’s embraced and has come to expect the serendipity that often influences her writing. Both humorous and engaging, the talk will perhaps leave you with different ways to look at the writing process and help you...

Poll: Best Advice for Writers

There are a million tips and nuggets of wisdom out there for writers. But I’m interested to hear what advice you’ve received that has been valuable to you. Leave a comment with your best advice (or cautionary story!) below. For me, there are a couple important ideas that keep me plugging forward. When I first began focusing on writing children’s books, I took some courses that had critique...

Visual Prompt: The Table

Use the photo above as a writing prompt. Take 10-20 minutes and write a scene, poem, piece of dialogue or anything that comes to mind. The idea is to write freely without editing. Just let yourself go. If you’re having trouble getting started, ask yourself questions to dig for details. Who is the table reserved for? What is the location like? Are the people meeting going to talk business or pleasure? What do...

10 iPhone Apps for Writers

As technology advances at the speed of light, writers have more tools available at their fingertips. Here are 10 iPhone applications that are essential for writers to have in their bag of tricks. 1. Dictionary.com – (Free) You’ll always need a dictionary/thesaurus within easy reach. The Dictionary.com app provides both. 2. Nameshake – ($2.99) Coming up with names for your characters can be...

Strike That, Reverse It

You may have noticed that there haven’t been any new posts in a while. Initially, I was taking some time off for the holiday to de-stress and enjoy some vacation time. But then Thanksgiving was over, and I still couldn’t focus on a single post despite having a list of ideas. As luck would have it, I discovered a post from Problogger in my RSS feed that confirmed what I had been thinking–the...