How to Write When Your ‘Focus Mode’ Is Broken

Meg Dowell Writes

If you don’t mind, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you a story. Assuming you are a writer, you will be fine with this because writers like stories. So I’m going to go ahead and tell one. I hope you like it.

Once upon a time there was a writer who started writing a story but couldn’t focus so she stopped.

The end.

Have you ever thought about how boring reading would be if every writer who couldn’t focus on finishing what they started just … never bothered to finish?

What a world that would be.

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Channeling Anger into Action

The Angry Staff Officer

At two o’clock in the afternoon on September 11, 2001, I heard a knock at my door. There stood a young sailor who handed me a flyer and said, “Thank you for your assistance.” To my shock, my husband was getting called up for a spontaneous deployment. The flyer had a list of items I needed to pack in his sea bag and instructions to bring it to the pier at five o’clock that afternoon.

Like the rest of the country, I was horrified by the morning’s events. But I didn’t have time to process – all I knew was that my husband was on a ship in the New York Harbor, and he needed my help. I packed up his stuff, drove it to the pier, and didn’t see saw him again until months later.

Our country has been at war for the 19 years since that day. As…

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The Higher Education Bubble Isn’t Going to Burst Without Our Help

Benjamin Studebaker

For a long time, we’ve been sending more and more people to college. We’ve sent so many people to college that many graduates can no longer find good jobs when they leave. More than 40% end up working in jobs that used to require no degree:

Some have been waiting for market forces to solve this problem. Way back in 2015, Senator Marco Rubio argued that folks would stop going to university and start pursuing jobs in the trades. Instead of studying philosophy, Rubio suggested the kids take up welding:

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12 Simple and Effective Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills Over Time

Meg Dowell Writes

1. Reread (and critique) your own writing. We don’t like to look at our own mistakes, but it’s one great way to learn not to repeat them.

2. Try a regular series of writing prompts a few days a week — even if writing prompts aren’t normally your “thing.”

3. Blog as regularly as possible about a topic that interests you, even if you don’t publish your posts.

4. Read! READ READ READ READ READ! The best writers are also major readers (audiobooks count!).

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12 Quick Writing Tips for Beginners (and Anyone Returning From a Long Break)

Meg Dowell Writes

1. Writing what you know a lot about/are interested in is a great place to start — there is always room to learn and branch out/expand your horizons once you’re more comfortable.

2. There is no “wrong” way to start writing, as long as you actually physically start writing (your own original arrangements of words, of course).

3. You don’t have to write a novel in a day. Take things one step at a time — slow progress is still progress.

4. You don’t even have to have a goal if that’s going to stress or overwhelm you too much. Keep it simple: Try to write just a little bit at a time at the start and see how things go.

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The Astros Sign Stealing Scandal and the Importance of Baseball to American Life

The Inglorius Padre Steve's World

Friends of Padre Steve’s World,

Walt Whitman wrote:

I see great things in baseball. It’s our game — the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us.

Baseball, can and should be that, but over the years as a culture and a country we have largely abandoned it in favor of more violent, and supposedly faster paced sports like football, which should be more honestly named slow paced, up-armored Rugby. True football is what we call soccer, a sport where every player, not just the kicker and punter can kick the ball, and where use of the hands to stop the ball by anyone except the goalkeeper is a penalty.

There is a lot going on in the world and in…

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Types Of Abuse That Are Rarely Recognized As Abuse

Cynthia Bailey-Rug, Christian Author

When most people think of an abusive person, they think of someone who is physically abusive, such as the man who beats his wife & children.  Some may also think of a verbally abusive person, too.  There is so much more to abuse than these two methods, however!  Narcissists often use the following tactics, so it’s wise to be aware of them.

Forcing a person to do something they don’t want to do is abuse.  This can include anything, such as following unreasonable rules, looking a certain way or even performing sexual acts.  The forcing can be accomplished in many ways, like withholding money, using intimidation, guilt or shaming or simply telling the victim there is no choice in this matter.

An extremely possessive & jealous romantic partner is being abusive.  Almost everyone has a little bit of possessiveness & jealousy in them, & that is normal.  Being upset someone…

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10 Commandments of Writing

#5 contradicts Henry Miller’s advice to only have one project going at a time. I usually have several things going at once.

ARHtistic License

For most writers, the path to publication is full of obstacles, detours, and potholes. Tenacity and resilience are required to reach your destination. Observe these commandments:

1. Write every day. The quickest way to become a published writer is to exercise your writing muscles. The more you write, the better you get.
2. Write for the joy of it. Don’t worry about trends—write your fresh, unique vision. The problem with trends is that by the time your piece is published, the trend may well have passed.
3. Turn off your inner editor during the initial draft. Get all those good ideas down.
4. When you think your first draft is complete, put it aside. Make a note on your calendar to read it again in 6 weeks. Start a new project.
5. Have more than one project in the works at any given time. This gives you options when you’re stuck or just tired…

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There is more to life than meets the eye

Purplerays

There is more to life than meets the eye. Never allow what you are looking at to determine what you believe. Never allow what you can see with your eyes to lure you into the belief that there is nothing more. Always allow your spiritual eyes to take you beneath the surface.

– Iyanla Vanzant

Text and image credit: Iyanla Vanzant htpps://www.facebook.com/DrIyanlaVanzant/

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feel what we feel

Peedeel's Blog

Art consists in making others feel what we feel, in freeing them from themselves by offering them our own personality.

Fernando Pessoa
The Book of Disquiet

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