Suddenly Jamie got my attention

I am very excited about a blog I have discovered: Live to Write – Write to Live (http://nhwn.wordpress.com). The articles are are beautifully written – both in terms of content and style. Here are a few samples on writing habits and the writer's life.  I will cover articles on plot, characterization, and so on in a separate post.

10 Ways Journaling Makes You a Better Writer
by Suddenly Jamie (@suddenlyjamie) at Live to Write – Write to Live blog

[Keeping a journal]  brings you closer to perfect. In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell says that to be an expert at something, you must invest at least 10,000 hours in practice.  The hours you spend journaling count. Start logging pen time today.

Improve your writing with breathing time
by Suddenly Jamie (@suddenlyjamie) at Live to Write – Write to Live blog

The artist – whether sculptor, singer, painter, or writer – does not one day attain some magical pinnacle of performance and settle into a routine of excellence born of repetition. The artist is always learning, improving, refining… There is nothing static or stagnant about art – it needs breathing room to flourish.

The beauty of breathing room is that it lets your subconscious get in on the action, and that, friends, is where a lot of your best stuff resides. …When you return to your work, with fresh eyes and new insights, you’ll be well equipped to dive into the real work of writing – editing.

A writer’s heart
by Suddenly Jamie (@suddenlyjamie) at Live to Write – Write to Live blog
How many of us can relate to this?

Because, you remember, I am not the writer I want to be. I hold her hostage, in a high tower of doubt and fear. And while the writer-I-would-be languishes in her protective prison, my feet-on-the-ground, commercial writer walks free. She crafts her product and collects her respectable paychecks. She is pragmatic and slightly smug. She is, after all, bringing home the bacon. She is pulling her weight. She is living in the real world.
And yet …

Birds Sing. Writers write.
by Suddenly Jamie (@suddenlyjamie) at Live to Write – Write to Live blog

He is a bird. He sings. Always. There is no question of whether he is in the mood, has the time, or is inspired. He sings because that is what he does. That is who he is…

Each writer must know beyond a shadow of a doubt that writing is part of what it means for her to be alive. Writing cannot be considered an “extra.” It is not something to be tended to when all other obligations have been met.