New Year's - what's in the air

Maybe it’s the New Year’s air or something but have you noticed all the people around you setting resolutions and goals and all those sort of things?

Or maybe it’s just my people. I know a Lot of this has to do with Maggie Stiefvater and her blog posts. She’s quite the influence, Maggie is. She does have really helpful things to say so it is worth going over and being influenced by her. Not sayin’ they’re bad or good influence, that’s up to you to decide. I think I am still deciding. ;)

So here’s Maggie’s link for you to check out and decide for yourself.

http://m-stiefvater.livejournal.com/139313.html I do expect you to come back here and tell me if she influenced you though – good or bad. ;)

For another very interesting and helpful look on working on hard things, especially for writers working on the hard business of getting Just the right words, do check out Leslie Pietrzyk’s blog.

I’m so glad I met Leslie at a James River Writers Writing Show this past year. For those that were there at the Writing Show and wondering, she was talking about the writing group she has with fellow author Carolyn Parkhurst who was also on the Writing Show panel [and was at the JRW Conference couple years back. On one of the panels I got to moderate.]

Leslie has a wonderful blog that I discovered after I met her and she always has something interesting on it. She is currently off teaching and is running some of her previous posts, and having discovered her blog fairly recently, I’m very glad she is!

So if you are struggling with something hard to do, go check out her blog entry mentioned below. It’s specially geared toward writers and writing but I think it could apply to any hard thing you had to do. Just be a little open when you read it. But especially if you are a writer I think you’ll be glad you checked it out.

http://workinprogressinprogress.blogspot.com/

Author Leslie Pietrzyk explores the creative process and all things literary.

Oldies but Goodies, 3: In Praise of Discipline

Posted: 06 Jan 2010

And after you read the 06 Jan post, keep scrolling to the 05 Jan and read it. Especially if you’ve been one of those writers in recent months talking to me about knowing when the time is to abandon what you are whacking your head against and leave it as it is where it is, and when it is time to take that discipline talked about in the Discipline post and persevere.

Leslie has some very interesting insights that are definitely worth checking out. On all her blog posts. And if you don’t want to miss those interesting insights sign up for them to be sent to you by email the way I did. So I can save them and bludgeon my unruly inner writer whenever need be. Hold on I need to go do that now.

So you go check out the posts and then come back and let me know what you think. I’m right, yeah?