Welcome, Brave Writers.
O Writers! Do you Suffer from Writer's-Block? The Fiction-Writing Directorate can Help!
Our Exhortations will Inspire you; our Exercises will Strengthen you; and the Ancient Art of Shiva Nata will Enlighten you.
Read! Write! Flourish!
Or Else.
Subsiste statim sermonem et scribe.
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By Lida, on April 20th, 2011%
Darlings! O, how I have missed you in these long lonely days!
Someday, darlings, I may be able to tell you about the extraordinary adventures that have been forced upon the Directorate these past months; for now, however, I must keep my trembling silence. I may tell you only that my adoration for you continues unabated, and I eagerly anticipate the day when we have dealt with the horrors which confront us so that I may return to you.
I offer these two fabulous things to keep you inspired and informed until that marvelous day.
First, the luminous Elissa Bassist at the Rumpus offers . . . → Read More: Two Fabulous Things
By Lida, on February 23rd, 2011%
A recent incident compelled me to write to my dear friend Stacey Cornelius for advice. I found her response so marvelously useful that I knew I must share it with you all immediately! Take heed!–Lida.
Dearest Lida,
I was delighted to receive your correspondence, but surely you jest—vampires? But have you not just vanquished the zombies? This is terrible news indeed.
I won’t mince words, my dear. I’ve encountered the vampires. I am nearly ashamed to admit I have been seduced myself.
Does that shock you, Lida? I apologize. My wanderings in the wilderness often cause me to forget the gentility of polite company. But . . . → Read More: The Scent of Desperation
By Lida, on February 14th, 2011%
This is a short video of me doing Level 1 Horizontals this afternoon.
Here’s the thing about the Dance of Shiva: it can be as much fun as you want it . . . → Read More: Shiva Nata for Swingers
By Lida, on February 11th, 2011%
Darlings! Welcome to the sixth edition of Clear the Decks Friday, in which we work together to dispose of the bothersome tasks that otherwise encumber our writing life!
Today, my lovelies, I am thinking about systems.
Ethelie is terribly fond of lists and priorities and stern consequences. Her lists — o, my darling, they are magnificent and mighty machines, with thousands of interlocking gears, each grinding inexorably along. Frankly, they terrify me, and when I have tried to use Ethelie’s systems, I’ve found myself weeping in the arms of my evening’s companion, instead of frolicking. There was simply no way to live up . . . → Read More: Clear the Decks Friday: Mr. Forster’s SuperFocus
By Lida, on February 4th, 2011%
A Shameful Harlot
Darlings! What a dreary and wretched day today is!
Everything is horrid: the Hounds will not stop howling. The weather is utterly frigid and the Beastmaster feared that the Kraken’s pond might freeze solid, so now the Kraken is lurking sullenly in the largest bathing tub in the Directorate. I have not performed my ablutions for days, darlings, and fear I am quite sticky and feral. My most promising writer had a dreadful relapse and has not written a word for days; he has been turned over to the tender ministries of the Plot Spiders, and all my marvelous . . . → Read More: Clear the Decks Friday: What Went Right?
By Lida, on January 21st, 2011%
Darlings! Is it Friday again? How delicious.
I feel I should apologize for not getting this post up sooner so that all you early-birds might benefit from it; but I’m afraid I was busy with some terribly important sleeping-in. Scrumptious! But alas, the delightful parts of my day have finished, and I have no choice but to turn my attention to my dreary List of Loathsome Labours.
Of course they’re loathsome; I’ve been putting them off all week, and for very good reason. All are difficult or dull or dastardly or annoyingly alliterative; the very thought of them causes me to turn . . . → Read More: Clear the Decks Friday: Less Loathsome Lists
By Lida, on January 14th, 2011%
Lida
Darlings! Last week’s Clearing of the Decks was so deliciously invigorating that I volunteered to lead this week’s. I’m thrilled!
I have a huge mountain of work that I’ve been avoiding recently. It began as the kind of perfectly ordinary avoidance where I didn’t even remember the job until it was far too late in the evening and I was already ensconced in my cozy zeppelin with a burly admirer (or two) and a bottle (or two) of champagne, conditions under which performing my Directorate duties would clearly be implausible, if not impossible.
The Cycle of Shame
Then I remembered the work, and . . . → Read More: Clear The Decks Friday: One Tiny Step
By Lida, on January 13th, 2011%
Beth
Last week, I introduced you to Shiva Nata. Now it’s time to tell you the most important part: it’s all about doing it wrong.
It’s not just ok to make mistakes when doing Shiva Nata. It’s required.
What?
It’s a strange concept; generally, we’re taught to do well and to succeed. When failure is acceptable at all – and so often it is not – it’s only in the service of learning to do better. “Babies fall down all the time while they’re learning to walk,” we’re told, “so it’s ok if you screw up a lot while you’re learning a new skill. . . . → Read More: Shiva Nata: To Failure and Beyond
By Lida, on November 2nd, 2010%
Darlings! It is time for us to talk.
In the Bible, after some dramatics with a wind strong enough to break rocks, a terrible earthquake, and a mighty fire, God finally takes his audience into consideration speaks to the prophet Elijah in a “still small voice.”
We all have a still small voice that speaks to us, I believe. Though perhaps only biblical prophets hear the voice of their God, everyone can hear something, if they are quiet enough. Have you listened? You may need to listen carefully to hear what whispers behind your customarily raucous thoughts. Some things make it easier to . . . → Read More: Concerning the Still Small Voice
By Lida, on September 11th, 2010%
O Brave Writers!
May I ask how your writing is progressing? Is it flowing along deliciously, like a river of chocolate that rewards you with sweetness every time you dip into it? Does it, like a river, carry you along, displaying magnificent new vistas around each bend? Does your writing, like a river, lull you to sleep each night with the sound of its gentle flow and the wind amidst the rushes? Ah, what bliss! You, my darling, are the luckiest of writers.
But I am afraid this post is not for you.
Today I write to all the other writers: those who are . . . → Read More: An Exhortation: On Your Terrible Shame
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