Tag: writing
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Perspective
I recently stole away for a quick writing retreat with my friend, Melissa Earley. We sat across from each other at her dining room table typing away on our matching MacBook Pros. It was great accountability because I knew Melissa could see me every time I distracted myself by checking my email on my smartphone. […]
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Getting to Know my White Privileged Self
A new essay is rising up within me. This is what it feels like when I know I have something to write about but don’t know exactly where this “feeling of an idea” is leading. It’s an exciting journey of discovery—exciting because I know I will learn and grow a lot in the process. But […]
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Practice, Practice, Practice
“We are always practicing, until the very end,” writes Brenda Miller in her book The Pen and the Bell: Mindful Writing in a Busy World. I admit, in such a performance-driven world, the idea that we are always practicing gives me comfort. So what if I don’t preach my absolute best sermon at our upcoming […]
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2015 in review
At the beginning of this new year, I want to thank those of you who read my blog. We are all inundated with reading material. Facebook, Twitter, literary magazines, Christian Century articles and blog posts regularly enter my feed and catch my attention. But reading time is precious and limited. So I am grateful […]
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Writing to Discover
In an essay I am writing about my son I am discovering just how much I love my children. This feels odd to write because of course I already know that I love my children. But as I challenge myself to go deeper in this essay, to be more truthful, to choose words that resonate […]
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Deleting Unnecessary Words
I came across this article, 43 Words You Should Cut from Your Writing Immediately, on Twitter and found the author’s advice helpful. She hits on many of the mistakes I commonly fall prey to in my own writing. The following advice was particularly helpful for me because I struggle with dialogue. Dialogue tags slow your […]
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The Way I Share My Soul with the World
Today is International Podcast Day—another one of those random “days” that I would not have known about had it not been for Twitter. Generally, #podcastday would not have mattered to me had I not wanted to blog about a new podcast I recently discovered. I’ve been listening to Elizabeth Gilbert’s Magic Lessons whenever I can. […]
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Writing Misery Loves Company
As a deadline looms on a new project, I have reached the end of the writing honeymoon when the fun of creating turns into the slog of hard, hard work. It is a miserable place to be–a place where self-doubt and the fear of inadequacy reign. So tonight I have gone in search of some […]
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It is Solved by Walking, or Stair Climbing
Last week I had no idea what to blog about until I went to the gym. After ten minutes on the stair climber, I had my idea. Fifteen minutes later on the elliptical trainer I had Three Lessons from a Productive Summer outlined in a note-taking app on my cell phone. Actually, I had ten […]
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Three Lessons from a Productive Summer
Lesson #1: Pay attention to baby sparrows. A newborn sparrow surprised me last spring, unballing himself at the end of my driveway as I was heading out for a run. I had mistaken him for a leftover clump of dead grass. His feet, each with three long, hooked toes were bigger than his whole body. […]
Teri McDowell Ott 