tool kits

Encouragement Pages-9/30/2019: Watch The Snakes

There is a certain Caduceus with writing. There are 2 snakes which will always be with you.

These are self-doubt and self-rejection.

Self-doubt will always say what you cannot do.

Self-rejection will always say what you create will never be read because it’s not good enough.

This dynamic duo work together to choke the life out of any project, platform or collaboration.

If left unchecked, they will snuff your talent!

So? Want to know how you kill them?

Create in spite of.

Be more afraid of not doing, of not creating.

Be more afraid of not filling the rooms or spaces you were graced to be in—than content to have never been invited to them.

Don’t die with all you have.

With Love & Ink,

JBHarris

Encouragement Pages-09/25/2019-Look Around

Think about the world.

Not just Earth, that’s easy.

Think about the groups of people you hang around. Work with. Associate with. That you go to church with. Each one of those spaces is a world.

They each have their own orbit, gravity, atmospheres and needs. They have their own rules which govern their existence and function.

I bet you can find a story there on one of those planets. Go searching.

With Love & Ink,

JBHarris

Encouragement Pages-9/23/2019

Writers’ senses are always a little more keen than others. We see the world three ways:

How it is

How it could be

How it could become

Today, look at the worlds and circles you inhabit. Examine the spheres in which you move. I bet there’s a story there.

With Love & Ink,

JBHarris

Encouragement Pages-09/20/2019-Water The Gardens

When you neglect your imagination, you make its soil sun-baked and hard. It cracks and curdles under the heat of inspiration, but there is no water from anticipation of what could grow there.

You rob yourself of the joy of creation. Of wondering what could be.

With Love & Ink,

JBHarris

Encouragement Pages-9/16/2019

Keep the rhythm.

Find the beat.

Trust your talent a little bit today. What thing of light, of dark, of horror or light ate going to develop?

What (or whom) will you pull out of the air?

Trust the things your imagination sees and hears. Perhaps even chase a few.

With Love & Ink,

JBHarris

Encouragement Pages-09/06/2019

Survey your work.

Don’t be discouraged if you haven’t worked like you wanted to this week. Writing has it’s own ebb and flow–it’s own demands. Each work you begin, each work you end will have its own personality. It’s own process as you embark on the journey to hew out the story from the landscape of your imagination.

It’s a process. Becoming the writer that you want to be is a process. Don’t be discouraged by the small starts. The longest novel is still written one letter at a time.

With Love & Ink,

JBHarris

Encouragement Pages-08/30/2019: What’s On Your Shelves?

One of bonuses about reading is you can scope out the competition! Reading the books in your chosen genre allow you to see what trends are present, what tropes are most common, and how the pros do it!

The right book at the right time may encourage you to switch genres, try your hand at a fresh retelling of an old story or a new point of view.

Writing should never be static!

Keep writing! Keep reading!

In Love & Ink,

JBHarris