Happy Friday! We’re heading into Mother’s Day weekend, so I hope you have some plans, whether you are a mother or are just celebrating your own or some other mother in your life. Whatever else is going on, it’s always wonderful to take a moment to tell the people we love how much we care.
Should you have some writing time set aside around all the brunch or lunch or other types of activities, I have some links here that I hope will give you a bit of a push. Writing involves some digging deep, some soul searching, some serious thought if you want to get down to its very foundations and figure out what makes a story tick, what makes your characters true. Or even just what makes you commit to the work to begin with. So take a few minutes to check these out, either over the weekend or in the coming week, and see if they give you a fresh outlook. Enjoy!
The Road to Extraordinary – On the pursuit of excellence.
Essential Books for Writers – Some great titles to check out, or revisit if it’s been a while.
How Mapping Alice Munro’s Stories Helped Me as a Writer – Thoughts on how to learn from the work of others.
The Poetic Edda, Game of Thrones, and Ragnarök – A look at what the popular books and HBO series owe to Norse myths.
How to Plot and Outline without Using a Formula – Jane Friedman offers some thoughts on the architecture of books.
The Perpetual Solitude of the Writer – The role of loneliness in creating intimacy with one’s characters.
Write Like a Motherfucker – The classic “Dear Sugar” (Cheryl Strayed) response at The Rumpus. Every writer should read this periodically.