This year I have had the good fortune of working as a monthly contributor on Two Drops of Ink, regularly recognized in annual lists of the best blogs on writing for writers.
It’s been a wonderful opportunity, and I am looking forward to another year interacting with the editors and writers who make up the Two Drops community.
As 2019 now draws to a close, its final hours, I wanted to share a few of my personal favorites, as well as encouraging people to read the work of my many insightful colleagues.
Although the original audience is a writing community, the columns speak to many of the challenges and sources of motivation that people face doing any kind of thoughtful, creative work.
September 2019: “Fighting the Noonday Demon“
Acedia has been called “the noonday demon.” It’s more than just a creative block. Acedia is a level deeper when you don’t even care whether you write or not, or don’t think it matters. Acedia is deadly because it can pull you down further and further into boredom, escapism, anomie, and indifference. These, in turn, make you feel a combination of guilt and shame that leads you to keep hiding in distraction. How to reverse it? Here are three ways to get going again.
March 2019, “Coming Out as a Creative Rule Breaker“
Your confidence shows up all the more brightly when you know the exact rules you’re breaking and why. We all live on this planet for far too short a time not to play and dance with each other at the fullest reach of our joy. In a word, breaking the rules simply means knowing your purpose, and bringing your purpose to the dance of language as a gift.
November 2019: “Find and Map Your Heart Values”
Digging deep into your heart values takes courage and a willingness to sit quietly with yourself. The goal is to find the deep why behind your writing or other creative activities. It can also help you strengthen your sense of authenticity and connection with purpose.
April 2019: “Embrace the Blank“
Sometimes a blank page can intimidate, but it’s also a gift, a space in which you can take that thought through to a natural conclusion. Perhaps even a meandering walk through the field of inspiration will lead to some new discovery. We all can find ways to embrace the blank if we merely shift our writer’s thinking. So, how can you shift your perspective from blank page to opportunity?
October 2019: “Rising Up from the Undertext”
Social media, email, text messaging, and similar formats have a seductive pull that can be hard to escape. They often feel like writing or communicating, but they can sap your ability to work in longer formats in longer time frames. You can reclaim your time, however, if you give yourself space to be vulnerable, to accept the pull of all this “undertext” and move on, you can find your way through to bigger projects.
