Writer, Dabbler In Things
As you’ve probably guessed from recent posts, I’ve gotten drawn into the Matthew Dicks universe lately, and he’s opened my eyes to a few things. Not just how much time I waste day-to-day noodling on the phone or otherwise not being as productive as I could be — he’s laser-focused on being as productive as … Read more
Okay, I didn’t change the theme of my website for the season — although Toronto is finally getting some genuinely spring-like weather, which is very welcome — so much as hoping to post shorter stuff more often, so wanting a website look that would lend itself to (at least some) shorter content. Not yet sure … Read more
Whoa. I’ve just had perhaps the most Can’t See The Forest For The Trees moment of my life, if it proves to be true. I’m back to baby-stepping my way through Natalie Goldberg’s book Writing Down The Bones — Freeing The Writer Within, which is a collection of thought-chapters about the process of writing. This … Read more
So it’s a wrap. Looking back on the last 30 days, and in no particular order, here are my thoughts on my first crack at Blaugust: I can manage to write every dayThis is a big one. I managed to pull off a few years of doing something creative every day, before I totally dropped … Read more
I’m pretty happy with the number of books I managed to get in this month, what with focusing on Blaugust as much as I did (typically taking an hour+ out of each day to post something, which could otherwise have been used for other things including reading), and with our pretty slammed schedule road-tripping out … Read more
My wife is a teacher and my teen is of course a student, which means that come the end of every school year, they’re suddenly around home a lot more and we do a lot more together. And that’s sincerely great. But… It also makes for a couple of months of busyness above and beyond … Read more
I went to my first Fan Expo yesterday and managed to get in one seminar led by experienced panellists. The second seminar was a bust because, whether by some miscommunication from the staff or some other reason — we were told by a staff member that the location of the seminar had changed at some … Read more
One of the many excellent ideas and encouragements that Amie McNee suggests in her fantastic book is to get comfortable with the idea that a creative work that’s 80% as good as you’d like it to be is good enough. Beyond that threshold, she says, you’re just making small changes, ones that probably aren’t worth … Read more
“Hey, man, how’s it going?” Hmm? Who’s this? “This is the central conceit of this bit. Go with it.” Um… okay? “Listen, it’s the end of the first week of your first try at Blaugust, and I just wanted to just check in and see how you’re doing with it.” Good, I think. I’m posting … Read more
I don’t have many self-imposed rules for Blaugust, but to help it from being a total freeform, chaotic mess that I wind up getting lost in and frustrated by, I figured a few proverbial lights along the path would help keep me moving forward. In no particular order: And I think that’s about it. I’ve … Read more