Saturday Creativity Quote — Paul Lynch
Leslie Budewitz Blog
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6d ago
“I’m interested in this idea of the personal cost of events. And I think that, if you go back through literature, you go through a great book like The Iliad, it foregrounds the politics. It foregrounds the heroics and the great characters. But if you take The Iliad and you turn it inside out, you arrive at [the protagonist of his novel, Prophet Song] Eilish Stack. You arrive at the individual living the ordinary life and how the individual is caught up within the cogs, the machinations of this enormous thing that’s unfolding. … I’m really interested in the problem of grief, not grievance. I’m ..read more
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Saturday Creativity Quote — on flow
Leslie Budewitz Blog
by admin
2w ago
Flow. We know it when we feel it, but what is it? How can we cultivate it? A new study done at the Drexel University Creativity Research Lab used brain imaging to study jazz guitarists working on an improvisation and summarizes the results this way: “The findings reveal the creative flow state involves two key factors: extensive experience, which leads to a network of brain areas specialized for generating the desired type of ideas, plus the release of control — “letting go” — to allow this network to work with little or no conscious supervision.” I like this so much, not just ..read more
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Writing about the law — and a common mistake to avoid
Leslie Budewitz Blog
by admin
1M ago
At the Pikes Peak Writers Conference last April, I met author and teacher Carly Stevens, who asked me to chat with her on YouTube about writing about the law and lawyers, as a followup to my PPWC presentation on common mistakes writers make about the law. Our conversation is now up, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. (We also talked last summer about building your characters, based on another PPWC presentation I gave, and you can watch or listen to that interview, Writing Better Characters, too.) Carly and I talked about the types of lawyers and practice, the relationships between lawy ..read more
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Saturday Creativity Quote — accepting self-criticism
Leslie Budewitz Blog
by admin
1M ago
I’m deep in a first draft, at that stage where I’m not sure that anything I’m doing makes any sense, that I’ll be able to make it make sense, or that readers will care. Whether you write, paint, make music, or create in any of countless other ways, I am confident that you know the feeling. And that’s about the only thing I’m confident of write — er, right — now. So I like these words from my favorite blogs on writing, one of the contributors I always read because I always know she’ll give me useful, practical insights. “Accept that your work will never feel satisfactory, because without that ..read more
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Saturday Creativity Quote — Mosley on plot
Leslie Budewitz Blog
by admin
1M ago
“Plot is the structure of revelation–that is to say, it is the method with which you will impart important details of the story so that the reader will know just enough to be engaged while still wanting to know more.” – Walter Mosley, This Year You Write Your Novel ..read more
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Saturday Creativity Quote — more on the value of a schedule
Leslie Budewitz Blog
by admin
1M ago
I’ve been emphasizing the value of a schedule, of a regular commitment to writing. One more quote to bolster that: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days.” — Annie Dillard, in The Writing Life What’s my routine? After decades working as a lawyer in firms and courts, now that I’m pretty much writing fulltime, I still keep office hours. Ideally, I’m “on the page” — that is, writing or editing — by 8:30, sometimes 9:00. I work until just afte ..read more
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Pepper’s Bookshelf – Between a Wok and a Dead Place
Leslie Budewitz Blog
by admin
1M ago
(With the Lunar New Year approaching, I went to the blog in search of this post to share it again and discovered I’d never posted it! But if you enjoy a bit of seasonal reading, then the timing is just right!) Spice Shop readers tell me they love spotting names of books and authors they recognize and potential new reads on Pepper’s bookshelves, both in her loft and in the shop. And Pepper and Kristen, who handles most of the Spice Shop’s book buying, love creating seasonal book displays. For the Lunar New Year, they’ve set out several foodie cozies with an Asian theme: Vivian Chien’s noodle s ..read more
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Saturday Creativity Quote — keeping a routine
Leslie Budewitz Blog
by admin
1M ago
You’ve all heard me talk about intentional creativity and the importance of making a commitment to do the work, whatever your work is. It’s easy to start the year excited about our creative plans, but sometimes we need a little help making them become reality. Pencils (photo by the author) That’s where a creative routine comes in. As my writer pal Mark Hummel, who also writes as Mark Leichliter, says, “The trick is to put writing first even if it isn’t literally the first thing you do, and if it’s not, then creating a ironclad routine to which you adhere . . . That can be to write an hour befo ..read more
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Countdown to the Lunar New Year!
Leslie Budewitz Blog
by admin
1M ago
Book cover for Between a Wok and a Dead Place The Year of the Dragon! So fiery after the sweet and mild year of the Rabbit. (HA! Have you been paying attention to the world? The dragon it is!) The Lunar New Year arrives on Sat, Feb 10, so I’m celebrating with a countdown. After all, my latest Spice Shop mystery, Between a Wok and a Dead Place, is set at the Lunar New Year. For the next 10 days, I’ll be sharing snippets of the story and its origins, recipes, other books of the season, and more. And there will be giveaways — signed paperbacks and audio codes. Ceremonial gate, Seattle’s Chinatown ..read more
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The Saturday Creativity Quote — stuck on what happens next?
Leslie Budewitz Blog
by admin
2M ago
“If you are stuck and asking what should happen next, head straight for what cannot happen. That’s the direction you want to go. The goal is not to play within the rules, but to break them. Story is not about what is realistic, reasonable, safe and ordinary. It is about the extreme things that happen to people who are not ready. It’s about the dramatic things that people like you and me might do-but do not-under duress.” – Don Maass, Writer Unboxed: It Can’t Happen Here, 3/4/2020 I first heard Don say this years ago when he spoke at the Flathead River Writers Conference held by the Authors of ..read more
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