The summer drought. It’s not really a lack of words. It’s the missing drive to get them onto the empty page and screen. It’s become routine for me in a way. A step-back before several steps forward. I went from dreading September as a kid to looking forward to them as an adult. Over the […]
Note taking and note writing does not have to be a series of coherent sentences. Occasionally, I will be writing out the literal first words that come to mind. Reading back many of those sentences out loud creates hilarity. You end up stringing together a series of non sequiturs that could sound ridiculous. So far, […]
In an effort to overcome self-confidence concerns, learn to understand something about the trade and craft that people do not think. Accept the consequences with what happens. So if your first draft or first sentence works. Accept the consequences. If it needs revision, accept that it needs revision. Good writers learn to encapsulate emotion, encapsulate […]
Legendary Progressive Rock Band King Crimson’s “Indiscipline” is a joyful story about a conversation between vocalist Adrian Belew and his then-spouse. In the lyrics, she talks about a painting that she keeps returning to and deciding if it’s enough. If it’s good enough to be complete. For several days in a row, I’ve spend parts […]
The most oft-asked question I get in this business is one you have all heard. “What do you write about?” It never gets old. Why would it? Shop talk will frequently lead to productive shop work. What you write about the most could be considered your anchor content. I define anchor content as work that […]
Even a single word on the page is valuable. It is something. Whether it becomes one of many, or one representing a title. It is something. Treat it with the value it deserves. Even if it gets scrapped later, it still represented something. @WriterDann
For the second time, I’m happy to welcome back to these pages my colleague Sudesna (Sue) Ghosh. Based in India, Sue is an author, cat mom and advocate for mental health and animals. You will find her Amazon Author Page here and on Twitter . Anxiety sucks. It’s been my friend/enemy for some years now. […]
A recent instructional clip from one of my favourite bassists offered a brilliant tie-in to writing. He spoke about how resolution and music go together. A bass line has to have some sort of resolution. The greatest classic rock songs with great bass parts are about answering something. It’s the guitar chords, it’s the few […]
Welcome to September. This Labour Day, let me share more info on my favourite kind of labour, the writing craft. Another trick of the trade. Over the course of the summer , I’ve explained a way to approach writing work. Does your finished product inform, entertain/engage and lastly, inspire? Here, I want to address inspire before concluding […]
Start Somewhere. The freelance market. The submission pages of print and online publications. The normal exercise for most sets of eyes reviewing these things are looking at gig opportunities that might fit. Those opportunities can transpose themselves into growing your portfolio of potentially sell-able content. A particular listing may be topic specific to something that […]
Dann Alexander 