Writing Life

Interview with Elizabeth Hyde Stevens Author of Make Art Make Money: Lessons from Jim Henson on Fueling Your Creative Career

Interview with Elizabeth Hyde Stevens Author of Make Art Make Money: Lessons from Jim Henson on Fueling Your Creative Career

I have a treat that I'm happy to share with my readers. Below is an interview with Elizabeth Hyde Stevens who is the author of Make Art Make Money: Lessons from Jim Henson on Fueling Your Creative Career. If you're in a creative career, be sure to do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of her book. It's filled with great wisdom about how Jim Henson navigated the creative and business worlds. There are lots of great lessons in the book to help you along your way on your own creative journey. Enjoy!

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Write a Novel in One Month (and it's not NaNoWriMo)

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Write a Novel in One Month (and it's not NaNoWriMo)

I started writing when I was 9 years old. I'm 44 now. In all of that time, I have never written a novel in one month. In fact, to be honest, I always thought that people who did NaNoWriMo were way overachievers and I couldn't understand why they would want to do that. Why would someone want to write an entire novel in 30 days? Just didn't make any sense to me.

The Voice

The Voice

No one cares what you write about. You're a loser. Face it, you've failed. Throw in the towel and give it a rest already. The world doesn't need another pansy-assed flaming liberal with a bleeding heart. You will NEVER succeed. You are damaged. Damaged beyond repair and that is why you will always truly be alone. Do you know why I know this? It's because I am you. And I know.

I heard a knock on the door to our bedroom and my heart beat faster. I rolled over and without my glasses I couldn't make out the time on my alarm clock. It was late. No, it was early. Really early.

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What I Learned in 2014 as an Indie Writer in the Self-Publishing Industry

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What I Learned in 2014 as an Indie Writer in the Self-Publishing Industry

For you fellow writers out there and those of you who are thinking about getting into the self-publishing industry, here are my sales numbers for 2014. I have been working at writing and publishing books since 2011 and I wanted to once again be transparent and share with you how I did in 2014. And, if you're interested, here are my sales from 2012 and 2013.

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Writing a Novel Sucks (Or Does IT?)

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Writing a Novel Sucks (Or Does IT?)

What's it like to write a novel? Some days it sucks. Just like work. You get up, try really hard, but the neurons aren't firing right, but you keep on going anyway. Other days are a pure joy. I was in a blue writing funk last month but made a public commitment to redouble my efforts and push on to finish the first draft of my latest novel. I share this with you so that you can see that it's not all skipping through the daisies. Writing is work and it's hard. But it's also not impossible, just takes discipline and perseverance.

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Rediscover Yourself as a Writer: How Not to Quit

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Rediscover Yourself as a Writer: How Not to Quit

Writing is hard. It sometimes sucks and doesn't often pay well. Still, I wanted to share with you a quick follow up. Last week I had really beat myself up on being frustrated and not doing well in making my writing goals. Working on my next novel was like having teeth pulled at the dentist's. Well, it's a week later and I wanted to come clean on my progress or lack of it.