IN 2019 I quit my full-time job to turn a short story I’d been working on for years into a book. My husband agreed to cover our living expenses while I wrote and “figured things out.” I wanted to appear serious. So I sought guidance. I signed up for webinars and workshops, including one called How to Write a Lot. I got a couple of books on writing and talked to other writers. The most common advice was to set aside time to write each day, perhaps two hours in the morning or at night. I tried everything I learned about how to be productive. Nothing worked.
I occasionally wrestled a few sentences or scenes onto the page, but it felt like every word and phrase fought back viciously. Mostly…
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Poets & Writers (Digital) - 1 Issue, September/October 2024