Listen to The Writing Life with Ann Kroeker Episode 2: Rescue Lost Time When over the past week might you have rescued lost time to work toward a writing deadline? What tool or tools might you use to start rescuing lost time? Learn more about: Google docs Voice-to-text feature on phones (some people use dragon, but I just use the dictation feature on my … [Read more...]
The Writing Life – Episode 1: Just Get Started
Listen to The Writing Life with Ann Kroeker Episode 1: Just Get Started What have you been putting off because you're afraid, uncertain, or intimidated by everything involved? What project could you start today? * * * On Being a Writer "This brand-new book is a must-have for career writers, whether seasoned or just starting out." — from "10 Great Books for … [Read more...]
On Being a Writer – Surprise!
A week ago, I accompanied my dad to several appointments, muting my phone to comply with the doctors' office rules. To stay focused I left it muted all day long, so from 8:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night I was only vaguely aware of texts and notifications. I'd glance at the phone when I was able, to identify the person and level of urgency. I let calls go to … [Read more...]
How to Form a Daily Habit: Don’t Break the Chain
My junior year in college, I started scribbling each day's to-do list the night before. I'd always include "wake up" so I would have the pleasure of marking off one item first thing in the morning: a visual sign of accomplishment. I've always joked about how pathetic it was to include "wake up," but I needed to see that I made progress. Decades later, I want to … [Read more...]
Coming Home to Scotland – The Poetry of Place
Until 2001, my mom thought our genealogy traced to England and Germany, but that year she and her brother discovered to their surprise that the ancestors they presumed were English actually came from Scotland. After tracing our family name to Kirkcudbright, where Robert Burns visited the Selkirk Inn and offered the famous “Selkirk Grace” (offered at the beginning … [Read more...]
The 2013 Writing Life Workshop
*Ding* On Wednesday my phone alerted me to an appointment. I glanced at the time: 2:00 p.m. What did I schedule at two o'clock on the day before Thanksgiving? I swiped the screen to check my calendar. Ah. It thought I was supposed to be sitting at my computer for what had been known for the past 12 weeks as "office hours." I forgot to tell my phone that "office … [Read more...]
My Writing Life: Beginnings – Identity, Pt. 1
My mom, a journalist, was talking with a friend. She beamed at my brother. “Charlie, he’s the writer of the family. And Annie? She’s...” Here, I felt my mom hesitate. Then, “Annie’s the athlete.” My brother excelled in everything involving words—from composing song lyrics and essays to dominating Scrabble games and inserting witty comments into conversations at just the … [Read more...]
Writing and Editing: Handle Words with Respect
I've been writing and editing for decades, starting in my college years when I signed up for poetry classes that often "workshopped" assignments. Writing and Editing Workshops We'd turn in a poem to the teacher, who collected them all and passed out copies for us to read and annotate so we could offer our peers helpful input. On the day of the workshop, we critiqued the … [Read more...]
Writing Conditions are Never Perfect
If I waited for perfect conditions to develop my writing life, I’d still be waiting. Back in the early 1990s, I did manage to explore writing as my work, as a way of life. I wrote and submitted a few magazine articles and met with businesses to launch a career in corporate freelance writing. Then we started our family. Our first three children were born within four … [Read more...]
Positive Reinforcement: Reward What Works (Ignore the Rest)
Back in 2006 I read an article in The New York Times called “What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage,” by Amy Sutherland. Tired of nagging her husband to change minor habits such as habitually misplacing his keys or leaving used tissues in his wake, Sutherland switched to positive reinforcement. The idea came to her while researching exotic animal trainers and how … [Read more...]
Destructive Criticism vs. Healthy Critique
J.C. Schaap wrote a post entitled “Witless Fear and Hug Lines.” In it, he told about how scary it is for a student to lay out something he or she has written in front of her peers and “let them go at it.” I remember classes like that. They were painful. … [Read more...]
Curiosity Journal: September 14, 2011
Each Wednesday I’m recording a Curiosity Journal to recap the past week. Tag words are: reading, playing, learning, reacting and writing. :::Some of you have mentioned that you’re keeping a Curiosity Journal, as well. Leave your link in the comments so that we can visit and enjoy your weekly review. … [Read more...]
Write to Discover and Decipher Life
By the time I was 13 or 14 years old, I realized the children’s department couldn’t provide the depth of information I craved. Shyly, I began browsing the adult nonfiction shelves for exercise books, vegetarian cookbooks, step-by-step drawing tutorials, and a series that taught survival skills, in case I ever acted on my dream of living by myself in the woods, like the kid … [Read more...]
Curiosity Journal: Sept. 7, 2011 (David Dark, Blokus, handcuffs, aging, masterful memoir)
Each Wednesday I’m recording a Curiosity Journal to recap the past week. Tag words are: reading, playing, learning, reacting and writing. :::Some of you have mentioned that you’re keeping a Curiosity Journal, as well. Leave your link in the comments so that we can visit and enjoy your weekly review. … [Read more...]
Last Weekend’s Gift
Last weekend...a gift. … [Read more...]
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