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Resistance

Perfection Paralysis

One of my favorite things to do is encourage people. Especially those with long harbored creative dreams. Probably because they are usually the first ones to sell themselves short.

My mother was a beautiful poet. I still have one of her journals filled with some of the most touching verses I’ve ever read.

But she never shared her gift with the world. In fact, she once told me a long time ago that she had started a novel. But after 165 pages of hand written text, she stopped writing.

And tore it all up.

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April 20, 2016 by

Upended By Your Upper Limits?

I was really hitting my stride.

Getting back to the novel that I had been dancing with for way too long. Ready to finally send out my first email newsletter for this blog.  Talking to my partner Curt about the post-production progress of our short film Waiting for Goodbye.

Doors were opening. Things were shifting in a positive way.  I was taking step after step toward being the writer I always wanted to be.

And then …
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March 29, 2016 by

Resisting Resistance

Today – okay, let’s be honest here – the past two weeks I have done a truly masterful job of avoiding the rewrite on my novel. Everything from the grocery store to the dust bunnies under the couch clamored for attention. Throw in the adoption of a new puppy and relatives popping in and out of Hotel Hughes as they toured the great state of Arizona, and voila.  Word count: zero.

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February 25, 2016 by

Self Helplessness

Today is one of those days where nothing is really working. And when that happens, I generally go to my impressive (or actually obscenely large) collection of self help books, CDs, downloads, widgets, gadgets and cards and pluck something that I think is going to help this self of mine get to feeling better.

So, what’s it gonna be?  The charms-and-trinkets route?  Put all my dreams in the manifestation bowl and wait for them to come true?  Write all my grievances on a piece of paper and burn it to a crisp to release them to the heavens for perfect resolution?  Meditate until all the wisdom of the Universe downloads into my head?

Not today.

Right now, I feel like I’ve been drunk on so many different flavors of self help koolaid that I need to send myself to rehab.  No more gurus, gadgets or therapies both mystical and practical.  Cold turkey, baby.   Continue Reading

January 25, 2016 by

Dare To Compare? Maybe Not.

“Comparison is the death of joy.” – Mark Twain

I hate to admit it, but one of my worst habits is comparing myself to other writers…usually when I’m in the throes of fearing that I’m not good enough at what I do.  Of course, this is wildly unproductive, and I know it.   Constant comparison is a recipe for allowing the unholy trinity of Fear, Resistance and Doubt to barge into my psyche and send me scurrying off to Procrastionationville.

But worst of all, it takes all the fun out of writing.  Continue Reading

December 10, 2015 by

How I Got Here…In Spite Of Myself

When I sat down to write this first post, I’d thought that I was set on talking about the current state of my writing life. The novel whose characters seem to envelop me in a warm hug one moment, then kick me in the shins and run away screaming, refusing to cooperate like a flock of bratty toddlers the next. A recent and welcome return to my first love, screenwriting. And of course, the daily dance with Resistance.

But there was one topic that kept repeatedly elbowing its way to the front of the line, no matter how many times I ignored it. Continue Reading

September 17, 2015 by