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“Banishing Writer's Block”
Writer's block is an insidious pest—a beady-eyed rodent hiding under the floorboards of even the hardest working writers, waiting to rear its hideous head at the most inopportune times.
—Jenna Glatzer, Outwitting Writer's Block and Other Problems of the Pen
Bookstore Overview
FoW Fiction and Non-fiction
Banishing Writer's Block
Painless Punctuation & Grammar and Other How-To Books for Writers
Make Money at Writing
Promoting Your Book/Website
Movies, Fiction & Other Fascinating Stuff About Writers
Bookstore Contents - Page 2
Banishing Writer's Block
Fear of Writing: for writers & closet writers
Outwitting Writer's Block and Other Problems of the Pen
Writeriffic: Creativity Training for Writers
“Fear of Writing: for writers & closet writers”
by Milli Thornton
I love your book. I went to Rockport on Sunday and was reading the book in bed when I read, “Don't read this in bed!” So I got up and sat in a chair and did the identical exercise that we had done on Saturday [at the Fear of Writing Clinic], the jazz band scenerio. The fun part . . . I wrote an entirely different story from the one on Saturday. I even started a poem today and had not written a poem in 7-8 years!
—Bev Emmons, San Antonio, Texas, 6/6/05
Dear Milli: Thank you so very much for coming to the LAWG meeting last night. Everybody had a lot of fun. And wasn’t it fun to see what a group of ‘brave’ [published] writers can do with the Fertile Material? The writing was hilarious and very creative. It’s intriguing to think that the Fertile Material has applications for motivating even the seasoned writer into another level of creativity.
—Penelope Stowell, Los Alamos Writers’ Group, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 4/25/02
Fear of Writing is for anyone who experiences a familiar thud in the pit of the stomach when sitting down to write.
Through stories about fictional characters with fear of writing, you’ll realize you are not alone. You’ll thrill to the powerful and bewitching experiences these characters use to burn through to writing freedom.
Through writing prompts known as Fertile Material, you’ll learn the skills you need to have f-u-n with writing.
Join the author as she reveals her own struggles with fear of writing; along with her revolutionary secrets for using the fear to embolden your writing. Make friends with fear of writing today!
Sample Chapter One before committing to a writing odyssey you’ll never forget.
Milli, you cannot imagine how much positive impact you have had on me, my writing,
and I’m sure, tons of other people! —Sandy Fleming, Pipe Creek, Texas
More Testimonials for Fear of Writing
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112 Fertile Material Writing Prompts
I’ve had loads of fun doing the Fertile Material exercises!
—Dena Harris, Madison, North Carolina
FERTILE MATERIAL SKELETONS
Roach Lover You are a cockroach sympathizer giving a speech at a rally for animal rights.
As Juicy as They Come Your spouse is addicted to mangoes—that slurping sound drives you wild and makes you want to kill.
FERTILE MATERIAL
Play Big You are a musician in a sought-after jazz band. Your name is Clarence and you travel with the band for six months of every year playing concert halls and jazz festivals. How old are you? Give the band a name. Choose your instrument. Portray the other band members and the feeling you get when you play together. Eleanor, a high fashion model, is interested in one of you. She has wiles and she uses them. Will the band survive her foxy tricks and secretive smile?
FERTILE MATERIAL FOR YOUR SERIOUS MOODS
Cliffhanger You’re out hiking in the mountains. Some shale slips under your feet, and suddenly you’re sliding down a steep embankment. Describe how you feel as you slide. It’s a rough landing and you are injured. How do your companions react? Are you calm or upset? Is your speech lucid? You need help right away. How can the nearest Search & Rescue team be notified? When they do arrive, how do you feel about your rescuers? Describe how they bring you to safety. What effect does this mishap have on your life?
Fertile Material excerpted from Fear of Writing by Milli Thornton Copyright © 1999
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Meet the Author, Milli Thornton
Milli Thornton is the self-published author of Fear of Writing: for writers & closet writers. She is lead workshop presenter for the Fear of Writing Clinic and her e-book, Become a Workshop Presenter, won first place in the e-book category in the 2004 DIY Festival. Milli runs local writing circles based on the writing prompts in her book—known as the “Fertile Material”—and her mission is to put the fun back into writing.
Milli was born in Wallace, Idaho, spent her childhood in Great Falls, Montana and moved to Australia with part of her large family in 1972 at the tender age of 12. She fell in love with Australia and lived there for 25 years, returning to the USA in 1997 to spend time with her mother.
After a year on the stormy Oregon coast, Milli moved to Taos, New Mexico for six years, where she wrote her first book. After climate-related health problems, she fled the desert in 2004 for the Hill Country of Texas.
Milli lives in Canyon Lake, Texas with her husband, Brian Williams, two cats (Caster & Camille), three goldfish and a pondful of frogs. She enjoys spending time on the lake with her husband and friends in a 1977 bowrider boat.
Milli would eventually like to live Down Under again.
See Testimonials for Fear of Writing
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Read an excerpt from FEAR OF WRITING
Chapter One: SUFFERING COMES WITH THE TURF
Milli Thornton Copyright © 1999
Is writing supposed to be fun?
Surely, it’s better to suffer. It will make our writing real—give it depth and integrity.
If we’re not going to suffer, we should at least work hard. We should be disciplined. We should think in terms of productivity. A writer’s not going to have a career to speak of unless she’s producing at least 1,000 words per day, right? If you get right down to it, it’s really a number crunching game. Or so the rumor goes. Every writer has a personal tale about the hardships of writing. And we all know that writing is a lonely business. Martin Myers made this kind of alienation adorably quotable when he said: “First you’re an unknown, then you write one book and you move up to obscurity.”
But this swallowing gulf is no laughing matter. As we chart our descent into the nether world of writing, honk if you know the story already.
Outside, the sun is shining and the robins are happily pulling up worms. Inside your snug little home, you’re staring into the abyss. The terror of facing that empty page is only surpassed by the numbness of your decomposing mind.
Just moments ago you were a lively specimen of resourceful humanity. Moments ago you were finding ways to speed through your chores and commitments in order to allow yourself some precious writing time. But, now that you’re seated in front of your favorite writing implements, you uncover the bleak truth. You have nothing to say. You are less inspired than the lowliest drone sorting microchips on the assembly line. You are empty. Soulless. Mere space dust inhabiting a warm body. You have no right to aspire to that auspicious title: Writer. Where did you come up with the nerve to even think it?
OK, so you’ve managed to convince your primal brain stem these negative messages are melodramatic. You are not empty. You are not a zombie from the twilight zone. While waiting in line at the drive-up bank, you even had “an idea” and now you intend to write it down. You’re no lightweight.
In fact, you have some guts and you plan to use them. How can you not be a writer? It’s in your blood. It permeates every atom of your mortal being. It reaches all the way to your higher self. Even your past lives were spent as royal scribes in Egypt or poets in Atlantis.
Triumphantly, you break those chains of oppression. You commit some tentative words to paper. One line follows another and “Voila!” you have a paragraph.
You resist the urge to reread what you’ve managed to get down. You forge ahead: One paragraph becomes two, and then three, and then five. If the dog doesn’t throw up again or the phone doesn’t ring, you may even write two pages today. You are doing it! You’re writing. You have defied the laws of emptiness. You are a god of creation.
But, the internal drag is taking its toll. Even as you defeat inertia to get those valiant words down on paper or typed onto the screen, you are faced with another self-evident truth: You are boring. Your writing would put insomniacs to sleep. You’ve seen livelier writing on the label peeling from the dank bottle of dishwashing liquid under your kitchen sink.
Yesterday you finished reading a mind-blowing novel by a twenty-three-year-old Asian author. He learned English only six months prior to writing his book. He wrote the entire book in Oriental calligraphy, using a brush and ink inherited from his great-great-grandfather, and then transcribed it into grammatically perfect English for his publisher in New York.
His prose is fluid, scintillating—nearly translucent in its candidness and lack of clutter. It’s his first book, and yet he writes with the sensitivity and depth of a literary giant. His ancestors spring to life within the pages of his book; they say some of the funniest, wisest, most memorable things you’ve ever encountered. The writerly portrayal of this intricate, exotic foreign culture renders you speechless with admiration.
The book has won awards and has found a permanent niche on the bestseller’s list. The author is under contract for three more novels. He writes blurbs for the covers of other people’s books, and his name is sheer unadulterated gold in the publishing industry. Everyone wants a talisman; everyone wants a piece of his literary magic.
Meanwhile, sunk in a private morass of shame and self-loathing, you sit in front of the mundane passage you’ve written. You reread your words and reel in shock. It’s blindingly obvious that you should give up now to save your family from the pain of watching you bomb out. Your paltry effort should be fed to the pigs for breakfast—with salt and pepper and plenty of ketchup. At least make it palatable for the pigs!
The rush of inspiration you felt in line at the bank is now in ashes on the page. You’re embarrassed that you ever bragged to your friends about being a writer. Bragging leaves you no room to exit gracefully. Bragging leaves you no pride and no way to resume a normal life. If you give up now, your friends will know what a weakling you are and they’ll never let you live it down.
Why would anyone want to suffer this way? You sit there, dripping with failure; pungent with the sweat of your fruitless labor. You remember that you go through this same horror scene every time you try to write. You always start on an innocent high, but then you degenerate into writing hell.
By the time the hounds of hell regurgitate you, you’re limp with defeat. Your skin crawls with self-revulsion. Looking up from your mundane passage, you observe the ordinary world: You can’t help but notice that your family and friends aren’t being auto-consumed by this tapeworm called writing. You long to veg out in front of the TV with the kind of serenity you see others reveling in as their birthright.
You look in the mirror and tell yourself to “get a life.” You decide to exercise at the gym whenever the urge to write strikes. You can put your nervous energy to good use at the gym instead of doing all that unhealthy introspection. Instead of agonizing like a word miser over what you have or haven’t written.
The concept “writing is fun” is ludicrous. Experience has proven it beyond a shred of doubt. Fun for others, maybe, but never for you.
Still, you are curious to see which panacea will be on offer here. You remind yourself, since you’ve given up writing to lead a healthy lifestyle, that you’ve got nothing to lose. You have no personal stake in it now. . . . Miraculously, this has killed off the hellhounds and smashed the mental blocks. You are now free to try the exercises in this book without expectation or attachment to outcome. You’re a perfect Buddha ready to give into non-judgmental acceptance.
Well, if not a Buddha then a glutton for punishment. You’ve made up your mind to try these dang exercises just to prove what you already know: Writing is a torture chamber invented specifically with you in mind.
Chapter One of Fear of Writing - Milli Thornton Copyright © 1999
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More Testimonials for Fear of Writing
I really am thrilled with this new way of writing. It seems to bypass the clinical/critical mind and get right to the creativity.
—Sandy Shairer, Tijeras, New Mexico
I’ve studied hundreds of books on writing. This book has proven to be the best investment ever.
—D’Arcy Mayo, Online Writing Studio, Canberra, Australia
I want you to know that this book was written for me. It’s like you can read my mind.
—Margie Wellman, Clarion, Iowa
Great writing exercises! “Fertile Material.” Nothing has set me free like these.
—Lyn Canham, Sandia Park, New Mexico
We wrote the one about discovering you’re still in your pajamas at the office. I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. Great fun!
—Donna K. Brown, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Wow, I was laughing out loud at some of the skeleton plots! This is great stuff! I think our readers are really going to enjoy this contest.
—Krista Barrett, editor, writergazette.com
I read “The God of Mystery” yesterday. I couldn't put it down!
—Sandy Fleming, Pipe Creek, Texas
The story “Worm Medicine,” with images I will never forget, made the point real—personal—alive and breathing. Afterwards, I went through and in a few hours fixed the corner I’d painted myself into with my novel. Woohoo!
—BJ Apostol, Santee, California
Just read your first chapter last night, and you were speaking directly to me! If my fiancee hadn't been sleeping I would have shouted, “That is SO me!” I'm sure that is SO a lot of people, and I'm not the first to tell you that, but I just had to say thanks!
—Jenn Martin, Oahu, Hawai'i
I found a big piece of myself as I read this [book excerpt]. I thank the author for her courage in writing about her fear of writing in such a provoking manner.
—Reader feedback, book excerpt at Innerself, www.innerself.com
I don't know if I ever told you, but the story about the grandfather baby-sitting his great-grandchild in Fear of Writing was one of the best short stories I have ever read.
—Sandy Schairer, Albuquerque, New Mexico (referring to “The God of Mystery”)
Even at 6:30 a.m., sans my first cup of coffee, the Chapter One excerpt made me laugh, it was so on target. I’ve got to read on so I can find out what’s going to happen to me!
—Sally McKissack-Lauck, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
I’d been battling a case of writer’s block ever since the terrorist attack on September 11. Each word needed to be squeezed out of me like lemon juice, and when it hit the page it was just as sour. And then I read “Jack’s House.” Every obstacle Helen encountered, every fear she had, every thought she had, paralleled my own troubles so completely I was stunned. I had been terrified that my fiction was trivial, meaningless, and without purpose, but when I finished reading “Jack’s House” I understood what I needed to do. This was the miracle I’d been searching for. Thank you!
—Jennifer Turner, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, author of Stark Knight
The freedom part of it, for me, is getting away from technical writing and having the chance to write something more fanciful. Also, not being critiqued on your English, spelling, formatting of paragraphs and so on. It's very therapeutic to run away from reality for a while! And humor comes naturally using the Fertile Material prompts. It even affects my other writing.
—John Gaines, Boerne, Texas
Thank you! Your [book excerpt] has given me two gifts—the knowledge that others are fighting the same inner battle of writing insecurity and, more importantly, that we can laugh at these insecurities and write anyway!
—Reader feedback, book excerpt at Innerself, www.innerself.com
One great thing about the Fertile Material is that I can take a break from a longer piece (such as my novel #2) and have some real fun! Not that my regular writing isn’t fun, but I believe it’s important to stay fresh, and doing smaller projects really helps with that. But the best part about doing the Fertile Material exercises is that each story can be saved and worked on again later—either as a novel or as a short story that might be worth submitting to a magazine or writing contest.
—Jennifer Turner, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, author of Stark Knight
It really got them going. Even one student who never liked to write and usually stalled around was engaged.
—Micah Roseberry, principal, Country Day School, Taos, New Mexico, on using the Fertile Material exercises with her sixth graders
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“Outwitting Writer's Block
and Other Problems of the Pen”
by Jenna Glatzer
*Reached #4 on the Amazon Best Seller List
and #1 in Reference*
Outwitting Writer's Block will help any writer break through the dreaded block and become a more creative and better writer than before. Filled with exercises designed to jump-start creativity and encouraging tips from fellow writers and instructors, this book is like Drano for clogged creative pipes.
If you've ever found yourself staring at the blank page all day, or cleaning out the refrigerator for the fifth time in a week just to avoid seeing that taunting blinking cursor, then you've experienced writer's block.
The good news? It means you're a writer. It's not important that you have these times; what's important is how you deal with them.
Glatzer tells writers how to:
* know when an idea isn't going to work, versus when it just needs a new approach;
*
apply relaxation techniques to get back the writing flow;
* look at writing like any other job, with set hours and required levels of output;
* set up your writing space for optimal performance;
* tell if you've chosen the wrong form, and/or if it's time to pick a new genre or media;
* knock the editor off your shoulder;
* examine other causes—lifestyle changes, depression, stress, etc.—that may need to be addressed;
* and more
OUTWITTING WRITER'S BLOCK is a humorous, inspirational, practical guide for writers, college students, business people, and those who would like to write as a means of therapy or “release.”
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The Secret Writer's Block CD That
Automatically Produces Ideas FOR you . . .
NO EFFORT REQUIRED!
Wow! I just used the Writer's Block CD for the first time and I'm full of great ideas. I'm writing a mystery novel and only just realized my ending was flawed! I needed assistance... I used the Writer's Block CD, came up with an extremely creative final chapter... and an idea for another book!!
—Fred Cochrane, Belfast, Ireland
Introduction from Dan Strauss
If you're a writer, I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar that at some point you've stumbled upon the dreaded Writer's Block.
It's the point at which your ideas dry up. You can't imagine how your story should continue. You aren't able to turn on your creative spark. You're lost for inspiration. You feel like you're in limbo. You feel stuck.
As a writer myself, I personally find this the worst feeling in the world.
I feel trapped. I know I have a huge hurdle to jump over, but have absolutely no idea how to do it. Usually, I go for a swim, or head to the gym, or take a stroll in the park. Sometimes I sleep on it. I try to FORCE inspiration. And it just doesn't work.
Why don't I just take my mind off the problem? I can't. You see, I make a living out of writing. I need creativity ON DEMAND.
I'm willing to bet you're like that too. Wouldn't it be nice if we could simply press a button and suddenly be overflowing with ideas? Imagine if the answers to your novel, screenplay and non-fiction questions just came flowing . . . true inspiration on tap. That's what truly creative writers want, isn't it?
Well, I'm writing to let you know that you can have this. And it's all thanks to a science called "binaural beats," found on the Writer's Block CD.
Let me tell you a little more about . . .
* The Science Behind Unblocking the Writer's Block
* The Ultimate Cure for Writer's Block
* What Dan's Customers Are Saying
* Dan's "100% Satisfaction or Your Money Back" Guarantee
* FREE priority delivery to ANYWHERE in the world, plus full assistance from “My Help Hub” dedicated support site
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“The Inventor: Creativity CD”
Binaural beat recordings are specially generated sounds designed to alter your brainwaves—bringing about states of happiness, creativity, or relaxation, for example. They're perfectly safe, non-addictive, and can be used as often as you like.
The Inventor: Creativity CD
Use the Inventor CD for:
*Boosting your creativity, coming up with new ideas
*Using your imagination to assist your business
*Thinking of clever book plots and story ideas
*Viewing the big picture and making intelligent connections
Your usual gush of fresh ideas has slowed to a slow drip. Your creativity has almost stopped dead. You need new thoughts, sparkling imagination . . . you need answers, solutions, book plots, designs . . . you need to be able to push a button and have your mind's eye come up with a million suggestions.
Suddenly, it's easy. You simply slip on your headphones, slide back in your chair and listen. You hear the gentle sounds swishing inside your head, relaxing you gently. You feel warm and cosy. Suddenly the floodgates to your inventor's mind are opened. The answers come gushing. . . .
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“The Journal Wheel & Guidebook”
by Deborah Bouziden
Review by Milli Thornton
To use the Wheel, dial the date and your mood. This renders a topic and technique. Use the Quick Reference bookmark to locate the page you need in the guidebook.
The guidebook is slim—which is good, because the last thing you need when you're trying to journal is a tome of instructions to wade through.
The guidebook gives you tips on how to use the topic you've dialed up. For example, if your mood that day dialed the topic MONEY and the technique POETRY, the guidebook suggests you write a poem about gold and silver. Other techniques include: dialogue, dreams, unsent letters, character sketches, clustering, life snapshots, and lists.
Since acquiring my Wheel, I've journaled extensively on topics I probably would've been too lazy or too busy to tackle: for instance, a ten-page dialogue with the sarcastic voice of my money issues, a nine-page memory about my father, and a four-page humorous sketch of my cat (which I later developed and published as an illustrated e-book entitled The Saga of Joelene the Bean).
But, as author Deborah Bouziden points out, you can also use the Wheel to journal for just a few minutes.
The verdict? I'm very happy with the extra writing I've done and the new topics I've covered since I got my Wheel. It works!
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“Writeriffic: Creativity Training for Writers”
by Eva Shaw
This complete, proven writing program helps emerging or blocked writers launch a solid writing career.
Topics covered include increasing self-confidence, staying motivated, undertanding how rituals can help keep one writing, and reading books to improve writing.
Advice and tips for overcoming writer's block and the fear of beginning to write are also provided. Specific writing exercised are included, with space to complete them.
From the Author
Take your writing career, your writing dreams seriously. This book is just a baby step to help that happen. I urge you to invest in yourself. Creativity is fun, exciting and oh, so satisfying. Won't you let me mentor you? This workbook, journal and how-to text is a great start.
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“The Observation Deck: A Tool Kit for Writers”
deck of cards & guide book
by Naomi Epel
The Observation Deck is kind of like an I Ching for writers.
—Jane Steinberg, Amazon.com
Review by Milli Thornton
When Epel tried to create a workbook/dream journal for writers, she realized she couldn't ask others to do what she cringed away from herself. She could not bring herself to write in bound journals or workbooks for fear of making a mess. She wanted to give writing assignments that people would actually do.
Her Jungian background led her to think in terms of cards to prompt the subconscious and THE OBSERVATION DECK was born. The deck is fifty 3x5 cards, each turning up a single word or phrase designed to trigger you into creativity. As Naomi says in the companion handbook, "The cards relieve you of the anxiety of having to constantly decide what to do next."
Does her method work? Despite the typical feelings of resistance at doing an exercise, I have used the cards to write a story about a spy disguised as a refreshments boy plus a page of dialogue between a warring couple. Both ideas came to me from my subconscious when I pulled a card.
The cards haven't helped me with my bigger issues (how to find the time to write; how to find the discipline to avoid petering out with a journaling method after a brief, productive fling) but I can attest to the main thing: these cards inspire.
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“Art & Soul: Notes on Creating”
by Audrey Flack
It can be terrifying to confront a blank canvas—is it a fear of destroying it?
—Audrey Flack
Review by Milli Thornton
Sometimes when we have writer's block, we just need to do something else. Look at something completely different—perhaps still something creative—but outside of our usual mental ruts.
Audrey Flack is an artist, not a writer, but this little book will inspire you anyway. Flack has a way of nailing truths about creativity that are universal. Just looking at the exotic cover is bound to make you feel creative. Even the author photo is deeply fascinating (she looks like an artsy version of Liza Minelli).
This book is a little like eating canapés—you don't want to overdo it and spoil your appetite. Just dip into it when you need to, take away a morsel of wisdom, ponder it and then let it disappear into your subsconscious. It's bound to bear fruit at a later date.
Then go have a chocolate milkshake and buy a Hollywood gossip magazine. There are times you just shouldn't try to force yourself to write.
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