Elizabeth M. Gilbert is an American author, essayist, short story writer, biographer, novelist and memoirist. She is author of bestselling Eat, Pray, Love, Committed and her next book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. With beautiful insight, Gilbert reflects on why success can be as disorienting as failure and offers a simple — though hard — way to carry on, regardless of outcomes. I… View Post
MONDAY LINKS ~ Reads on Writing & Better Living: Don’t Praise Children’s Intelligence
Quote of the day After seven experiments with hundreds of children, we had some of the clearest findings I’ve ever seen: Praising children’s intelligence harms their motivation and it harms their performance. How can that be? Don’t children love to be praised? Yes, children love praise. And they especially love to be praised for their intelligence and talent. It really… View Post
How To Hook Your Readers With Engaging Openings
Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go helps you to overcome the weak openings. Opening with your character’s thoughts Opening with your character’s thoughts can be very effective, but you have to be careful that you don’t begin with a character ruminating about some past dreadful event—or even the inciting incident after it’s occurred. At a… View Post
Hack Your Brain’s Default Mode with Meditation
Dan Harris is a correspondent for ABC News, an anchor forNightline and co-anchor for the weekend edition of Good Morning America. He’s the author of 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works–A True Story. There’s no way a fidgety and skeptical news anchor would ever have… View Post
WEEKEND LINKS ~ Best Reads on Writing & Better Living: Having A Coffee Experience
Quote of the day Three coffee experiences can be lived throughout the day: Coffee for waking up is still preferred as a hot, dilute beverage; Espresso takes the lion’s share of coffees at breaks, especially in Latin countries and above all in Italy; In Anglo-saxon or northen European countries, espresso is considered a specialty suitable for relaxing, where feeling and… View Post
Finding Your Writer’s Voice
I want to hear you, not your voice. —Iris Warren, Voice Teacher. Finding Your Writer’s Voice whispers you how the stories get written. The sound of colloquial voice: When colloquial language unites with literary language, a third language often emerges—an alchemical blend of your natural speaking voice, and a more polished language capable of arousing the imagination of the reader. The… View Post
How Schools Kill Creativity
Sir Kenneth Robinson is an English author, speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education and arts bodies. He was Director of the Arts in Schools Project (1985–89), Professor of Arts Education at the University of Warwick (1989–2001), and was knighted in 2003 for services to art. He is author of Finding Your Element, Out of Our… View Post