Entries Tagged 'subject' ↓

Good Writers Don’t Fish in Dead Waters

Here’s how it works when I go fishing. I put bait on a hook. I cast and wait, recast and wait, recast and wait. Hopefully, I catch a fish. It’s just a matter of patience usually.

Unless I’m fishing in dead water. I did that once when I was a kid . . .

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Not Sure What To Write About? Make Sure It Stings.

You read that right. Good writing sometimes sings, but it always stings. In addition to being a bad pun, that’s a reminder that we can’t forget to take risks in our writing. In fact, if we aren’t taking risks as writers, we might as well just stop.

Heck, sometimes we even have to take risks with new technologies like Gabcast, where you can hear me talking more about writing that takes risks. (I also share another great parable from Annie Dillard.)

Just this week, I was talking to a Texas real estate Czar and we got to talking about vulnerability. Vulnerability requires a strong, supportive community, he said. And by vulnerability he seemed to mean accountability. And by community he seemed to mean something like a bible study accountability group.

But I knew what he was talking about.

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Wash Away Writer’s Block with SOAP - Subject

It’s a simple acronym: SOAP.

Subject, Occassion, Audience, Purpose

But it revolutionized the way I write and the way I edit because it begins in the place that gives most writers trouble.

When we have ideas, they are gifts from God. They are manna. They are quail. They words from the muse.

When we don’t have ideas, we call it writer’s block.

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