Lessons
Class Introduction
01:13 2Reading, Listening and Participating
09:29 3Community Keeps You Writing
02:55 4Don't be Vague and Avoid Cliche
03:56 5Using Your Five Senses to Build a World
03:20 6Pacing: Write Slow, Write Strong
09:45 7Place is a Character
03:34 8Shame Will Shut You Down
07:12Lesson Info
Quit While You’re Ahead
I want to, while we have our time together kind of buzz ahead to some more practical tricks that I've learned to kinda keep me at it. Quitting while you're ahead. I learned this from the Why YA author Blake Nelson. My MO, when I'm sitting down to write is I'm just gonna write until it's all out of me. I'm just gonna sit down and beat myself with a stick until all this stuff comes out. I have this sort of like, I wrote for four hours today. Tomorrow I'm gonna write for five hours. It's a sort of like self-battering work ethic, that I can get some weird pride out of, so I was really shocked when my friend was like, "Oh, when I'm writing, I'm writing a story where these kids "are gonna go into the high school, "and then there's going to be a fire, "I write right up to when they're walking "into the high school, and then "when I know there's gonna be a fire, I quit. "I go back tomorrow, and I write the fire." I'm like, "But you already, I just feel like "as long as you know what is happeni...
ng next, "don't you keep writing?" He's like, "No, you leave yourself something great "to ease into, you quit while you're ahead, "and it's so much more gentle." When I started doing that, it really is. To me, it felt very counter-intuitive, but it made me really look at the ways that some of my writing practices are a little bit abusive to myself. I think that a lot of writers can have those sort of, again, it's the myth of that writer. I'm so passionate about my craft, I'm gonna let it kill me. You know what I mean? You don't have to write like that. It doesn't make you a better writer, doesn't make your work better, so I really recommend trying that out. If you know where you're going, get almost there, and then leave yourself a little present for when you come back. It makes a lot easier to come back when you kind of let it all out. I'm working on a book right now where I've done that a lot. I'm like, I gotta get them to this place, and now I don't know what's gonna happen. I'll figure that out next time. Guess what, it's gonna take me double time to get back 'cause I don't know what they're gonna do next, and I'm intimidated, I'm scared, I'm filled with dread, but if I know that they're gonna take a bus to New Orleans, and I just get them on the bus, when I come back, I can get them to New Orleans, and I'm excited about it. I've been thinking about it. I think that this is something that scientists have proved. When we have these kind of problems that we're trying to figure out, our brain is working on them, subconsciously, even when we are not consciously at it. I think that you can use that to your advantage a little bit when you know like, "I know they're gonna go to New Orleans. "I'm not quite sure what's happening after that." Your gears are turning, and when you sit back down, you get them to New Orleans, and then you're a little bit more fresh, you haven't beaten yourself up, you can make things happen for them. I really recommend that, and I also recommend being nice to yourself as your practice, in general. Like, do you have a writing practice that sorta beats you up a little bit? Like, question that, it doesn't have to be that.
Class Materials
Free Bonus Material
Ratings and Reviews
Bev
This was an inexpensive course that in my opinion offered great value. Michelle touched on a lot (operative word touched) of information that is informative and validating especially for those of us who are newbies in the world of writers. This is not a course of delving deep into specifics. For me this was a delightful afternoon spent with a writer who shared information and insights from her personal experience. I have some great notes from this course which I can actually apply. Thank You Michelle.
Tara
So i'm kind of in this place right now in my writing where I'm having a hard time moving forward and doing the work to finish. Listening to Michelle has helped me get more comfortable with realizing that if I ever want to get anything done I need to do that work. She left me feeling more amped up to continue my work. This is the kind of class that might help you come to the realization of what you need to do to finish your work or it might give you a different view of what you might need to do. I consider myself a novice writer so I think this course is definitely good for people who are starting there writing journey.