One of the reasons I moved back to London from Australia was the density of cultural treasures in this area of the world.

My muse is European and I find my inspiration in art, architecture and culture. They feature heavily in my novels Pentecost and Prophecy.

London’s National Gallery is currently hosting a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition; Painter at the Court of Milan and last night I went to see it. As I walked around and read his own words, the similarities between visual art and writing became more apparent.

1) Creation of a idealized world.

Leonardo’s finished paintings were often not direct pictures of the real world. They were improvements or allegories or portrayal of myth and story. Our writing is often the same. We take aspects of the world and knit them together to create hyper-reality, or we twist things, enhance aspects or disguise them. From the words of Leonardo himself, “If the painter wishes to see beauties that would enrapture him, he is master of their production; and if he wishes to see monstrous things…he is their Lord and God…in fact, therefore, whatever there is in the Universe through essence, presence or imagination, he has it first in his mind and then in his hands.”

2) Practice is critical.

I found the practice and study sketches to be the most fascinating part of the exhibition. Leonardo studied anatomy in great detail and sketched parts of the body he was trying to perfect for the finished product. The folded hands, the intricate pattern of the skull, the ermine’s paw – all these are sketched for practice and understanding before the finished work is made. In turn, we must practice aspects of the craft – dialogue, character description, setting, point of view. We practice and then later refine our work for the finished product.

3) Character creation

This quote from Leonardo’s diaries caught my eye. “When you make a figure, think well about what it is and what you want it do and see that the work is in keeping with the figure’s aim and character.” In painting as much as in writing, you have to decide what you want, decide on the way the character will be and then create to that description.

The sketch of the man taken in by gypsies contains five individual characters perfectly portrayed (left). The exhibition also has Leonardo’s tiny diaries there where he wrote out ideas for his designs, he often used words instead of images at the first stages of creation.

4) Use of archetypes

The Last Supper is a triumph of archetypes with Judas in particular being dark-skinned, hook-nosed and clutching a bag of money as the racist stereotype of a betrayer. But archetypes appeal to the human mind, we can instantly hang our thoughts on a pre-existing idea and it helps us understand the depths being portrayed. The saints are often pictured with the instruments of their martyrdom, Sebastian with the arrows for example. I love this language of symbolism and try to weave it into my own writing.

5) Multiple drafts

Drafting for the paintings of Leonardo started with the individual sketches and then culminated in a cartoon. The word is used here to describe a technique where a drawing was covered with pinprick size holes and black chalk then used over the surface in order to create a template on the wall or ceiling or wherever the finished piece would go. The gallery featured the Virgin and Child with St Anne pictured right. This is similar to the drafting and editing process all writers go through to create their own masterpieces, with the cartoon as the almost completed final draft before the finished product.

6) Editing

There’s a lovely sketch of a kneeling angel where Leonardo has drawn the hand in two places, the same arm raised and lowered, in an attempt to see what the picture would look like with either option. This is an aspect of pentimento, an alteration where the painter has changed his mind during composition. This reminded me of the editing process where we change our work to improve it, either by something we see ourselves or what others help us with. The editing process is crucial to create a fantastic finished product.

7) Artist-entrepreneur

Leonardo's academy of artists

Leonardo was famous being a creative polymath – a painter, sculptor, engineer, but he was also an entrepreneur. He was paid for his works and if he didn’t get paid, he sold them elsewhere. The 30 year wait for the payment due for the Virgin of the Rocks is a classic example.

He also had a workshop of artists who did the bulk work for him in order, presumably, to produce more work at a faster pace. I see this in the James Patterson model of writing where he is creative director and has co-writers working with him in order to produce almost a novel a month. Patterson has said “If I’m working with a co-writer, they’ll usually write the first draft. And then I write subsequent drafts”. We may criticize his writing but he is one of the highest earning writers in the world and millions buy his books. All artists must consider money in order to survive and then thrive.

If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy these posts inspired by art:

• Writing as an emerging sculpture: Inspiration from Michelangelo’s slaves

• 15 ways modern art galleries can inspire writers

Do you find art inspiring?

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One day I will go to Burning Man festival, a place where you can be whoever you want to be.

It’s a time of self-expression, self-reliance and art in its myriad forms. Travel and creativity excite me and this is a place where seemingly anything can happen. It inspires the mind and the spirit.

I also feel that this week in January is difficult.

We have had the ecstasy of the holiday period, the over-indulgence. Then we had the exuberance of the new year, the resolutions, the new diet, the goal setting. The first days of the new habits and everything went well. Then something happened and we slipped. We missed a daily writing session, we ate pudding and cheese, we didn’t go to the gym. But we have to keep picking ourselves up and starting again. Each day is a new start.

So I hope this video inspires you. It’s a Burning Man rendition of Dr Seuss’ Oh, the places you’ll go, and has the ups and the downs of the journey as well as some interesting characters.

Does this inspire you again?

Image: Flickr Creative Commons Carnivillain

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Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you’re having a wonderful time with your loved ones this holiday time. I’m excited to announce that The Creative Penn is, once again, one of the Top 10 Writer’s Blogs based on over 2000 nominations. Thank you for your support of the site and I intend to make it even better in 2012!

The Penn Christmas Tree!

Back to Christmas, I realize a number of you may have received ebook readers for Christmas so here are some gems I recommend you download for your new device today. Personally, I’m a bibliophile and voracious reader. I probably read 3-4 books a week these days across multiple genres and also a lot of non-fiction. My book consumption has at least tripled since I bought a Kindle over 2 years ago so I am a book devouring machine!

I also post reviews on Goodreads here so please do friend me there if you’d like more recommendations.(Present image Flickr Creative Commons Shimelle)

Fiction

The Fear Index by Robert Harris. With the financial markets in flux, you can’t resist this tech thriller. It’s a departure from Harris’ usual, more historical thrillers. Fascinating but also a great read. My full review here.

Worth Dying For – Lee Child. If you’re a thriller fan and you like some kick-ass action with your lone vigilante justice, you must at least try one of Jack Reacher’s adventures. My full review here. I’m hooked!

Daemon – Daniel Suarez. I LOVE this book and it’s sequel, Freedom. When a multi-millionaire dies, he releases a game of sorts into the world. Human actions, news reports and events affect the path of the artificial intelligence but it can’t be destroyed and soon all are sucked into this virtual reality world. It’s a tech-thriller, fantastic reading. My full review here.

A Discovery of Witches – Deborah Harkness. There’s violence, romance, fantasy and lots of great locations (check out the French chateau!) Here’s my review from Amazon.

I can’t stand vampires, they make me squirm, but I was urged repeatedly to read this book! I’m so glad I did because once I got over the squeamishness, I was hooked (and skipped over the gory bits). I went to Oxford so I devour anything related to the University so the opening scenes in the Bodleian were fantastic as well the as Woodstock scenes. Diana is a good protagonist with varying shades of strength & vulnerability, resisting her magic while it relentlessly grows inside her. Her love interest, Matthew Clairmont is handsome and learned, charming and rich as all vampires must be. But he is also complex with a violent history that Diana must accept for their partnership to work. I liked the escalation of the action between the witches and the coming together of a group who will fight for the protection of their species. I loved Matthew’s mother and old servant in their French ancestral home, marvellous! What I didn’t like was getting to the end and finding it was a trilogy! I like self-contained books, I hate waiting, but I will be buying the next one of these. Definitely.

The Hunger Games – Susanne Collins. This is the first in a truly awesome trilogy. Far superior to Harry Potter in terms of a YA crossover. Definitely read before the series is made into a movie next year. I discuss why the books are so amazing and the lessons for writers here.

The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern. A magical book, you can sink away on gorgeous visualizations of the world created in this whimsical circus. It deserves the accolades it is receiving. It leaves you desperately wanting to go there yourself.

Origin – JA Konrath. The Devil is in a deep sleep and is being held in a secret government bunker. Then he wakes up. What could possibly go wrong? I love this book and it also fired my own enthusiasm to go indie with my books.

The Windup Girl – Paolo Bacigalupi. A multi-award winning sci-fi novel, this is more like a dream, albeit a slightly disturbing one.

and of course, don’t miss Pentecost by Joanna Penn 61 reviews on Amazon.com averaging 4 stars. This is Dan Brown meets Lara Croft which a dash of Indiana Jones! The sequel Prophecy is coming next week!

Non-Fiction

On Writing – Stephen King. This is my favorite writing book because King blends his advice with the story of his life. It’s more a memoir than a how-to book and he is one very interesting man! His recommendations include ‘bum glue’ and cutting 10% when you edit.

The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch. You must read this. Seriously. It changed my life as it challenges you about your childhood dreams. Randy died of pancreatic cancer but not before this lecture touched millions. Break through your brick walls and achieve your dreams, for the grave awaits us all. We have a short time to achieve something. Get on with it! Watch one of my earliest videos as I review it here.

Do The Work – Steven Pressfield. After the inspiration of The Last Lecture, this book will kick your ass hard enough so you actually do the work. Stop moaning about how you never have time to write, how you’re blocked or how hard life is. Shut and write. Just do the work! (but there’s more to it, so it’s worth reading!)

There Are Other Rivers – Alastair Humphreys. I have always had itchy feet. Travelling is important for my mental health. Alastair takes this to the extremes as he is an adventurer by trade. This book is based on his walk across India but it’s more a meditation on why we need to escape sometimes and how we can feel alive on the road. Here’s my review on Amazon.

I’m one of those people who devour adventure books because vicariously I can be out there experiencing it too. In this book Alastair takes us on an internal journey as much as describing parts of his walk across India. It resonated with me deeply in parts, the need to be someone extraordinary, the desire to shed all physical possessions and just exist simply. I identify with the need to keep moving – I move every few years but I’m not as brave as Alastair. I also fell in love with India when I travelled there. It’s one of those places I felt at home in so it was great to revisit some of those impressions through the eyes of such a seasoned traveller. I find myself strangely jealous of the freedom to sleep under the stars, to walk towards the setting sun, to take each day anew. If you sometimes feel this way, you’ll love this book. Highly recommended.

I think this lot will keep you occupied into the New Year! Of course, if you haven’t indulged in an e-reader yet, you can always buy the books in print.

Happy reading this holiday!

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BookBaby helps authors publish ebooks and I recently did a guest post on 7 Ways Digital Publishing Can Change Your Life over on their blog. Today they return the favour so this is from Chris Robley, marketing coordinator for BookBaby and editor of the BookBaby blog.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

At his first inaugural address, FDR helped launch his presidency with those famous words. He was, of course, talking about measures the United States needed to take in order to pull itself out of the Great Depression. But he could have just as easily been giving a pep talk to writers wallowing in a creative slump.

99% of the time, writer’s block is nothing more than fear. You’re afraid you’re out of ideas. You’re afraid your best work is behind you. You’re afraid that you’re a phony. You’re afraid that you’ve exposed too much of yourself, or not enough. You’re afraid of failure. You’re afraid you’re not the genius you wanted to be when you started.

Rid yourself of the Genius Curse

Elizabeth Gilbert did a great job in her 2009 TED Talk of illustrating how we’re crippled by an obsession with our own intrinsic genius. We’re limited by the notion that every utterance we make, every phrase we write, every idea we have, should be pure brilliance. No pressure, or anything!

Do we really think our work should be transcendent at every turn?

No wonder we end up going through extended periods just staring at a blank page or hating absolutely everything we’ve recently written. Creativity requires a sense of hard work and discipline as well as a sense of play and discovery.

Here are 12 ways to free up your writing and cure you of your fear of failure:

1. Don’t be married to results.

This first tip is common curing-writer’s-block advice, but it’s also absolutely critical! Most people have to write pages of utter crap before they stumble upon that moment, phrase, idea, or character that really makes things click. No one else has to see that pile of crumpled papers in the trash. It’s your little secret.

Remember, brilliance has no deadline. Just sit back and enjoy the sound of your fingers on the keyboard or the scratch of your pen. If you DO have a deadline, be easy on yourself and accept the fact that not every sentence you write will sparkle.

2. Don’t compare yourself to other writers.

While you should constantly be reading other peoples’ work, it does little good to bemoan the fact that you do not posses the same kind of talent that, say, Nabokov or Dickens wielded. Your talents are unique. And Jealousy is bad for the soul; it is energy poorly spent.

Plenty of authors have been praised in their day, only to be forgotten decades later. Plenty now-infamous writers were relatively unknown while alive. Poet X might have you beat in terms of vocabulary, lyricism, rich imagery, and clever turns of logic, but your simple, conversational style may communicate with readers in a far more raw and visceral way.

Basically, there’s no way to assess how your audience (perceived or real) is going to react to your words in comparison to any other writer’s, living or dead. You just can’t know. So don’t worry about other writers. Don’t worry about your perceived audience. Just write. Once you’ve written enough material, judge yourself (but not too harshly) and revise from there!

3. Remember rejection letters are made of paper.

And paper can be burned. It makes an especially pretty glow at night. Rejection letters do NOT reflect upon you as a person or on your writing. They simply mean that your submission wasn’t a perfect fit for a particular editor, a particular agent, a particular publisher, a particular issue of a particular magazine, a particular theme or season… a particular particular. Keep trying until you find that fit. Your audience will follow.

4. Ask if your intentions are holding you back.

W.H. Auden was asked what advice he would give to a young poet: He said he would ask the poet why he wanted to write poetry. If the aspiring poet said, “Because I have something important to say,” Auden feared there would be no hope for this young writer. But if, on the other hand, the novice said he wanted to write because he loved to play with language, Auden thought there was some promise since he the young writer was open to the discovery aspect of the poetic process.

Just because you have something to say doesn’t mean that it is interestingly said. Is what you have to say less interesting than what you have to discover? If so…

5. Write ahead of yourself.

Get out in front of your conscious, deliberate, critical mind. Free yourself from patterns and intentions wherever they’re stifling your writing. You may uncover something interesting you never even knew that you knew.

But how? It’s difficult to offer particular advice here, since every writer is walled-in by unique habits and proclivities. But I would recommend that you NOT start relying on drink or drugs to free up your creative mind. Your writing will suffer in a completely different way. Instead, try some of the free-writing prompts you can find online. (http://creativewritingprompts.com/)

6. Cannibalize your older writing.

Everyone knows you shouldn’t be afraid to “kill your darlings” when revising current work. But don’t be afraid to dig up the dead for spare parts, either. I know it’s embarrassing to go back and read your younger work, but it can be a fruitful scavenging experience. I once went through a whole notebook of dreadful poems I’d written in college and filled up 3 pages’ worth of decent lines and titles that spawned newer, better poems. The same could be true of your old poems, stories, essays, etc.

If you’re feeling particularly brave, try combining some of those surviving lines and see if that launches something unexpected.

7. Break old habits of voice and style.

After you’ve been writing for a while, your style can grow stale, especially to YOU! So try something else for a change. Trade your typical Hen Lit romance for dreary Sci Fi, your dreary Sci Fi for historical fiction, your long and lyrical lines for terse and choppy fragments, your satirical smirk for a somber frown, etc.

8. Similarly, break from your assumptions.

This goes along with my earlier point about divorcing yourself from your intentions, but your assumptions can hold you back too. Maybe you’ve spent 6 months writing a light-hearted romance with characters you absolutely love, but the plot has dead-ended. Great! Kill one of your characters off and turn it into a murder mystery. If such a radical shift works to reinvigorate your writing, you can always use the revision process to balance out the narrative and style, or not!

If you have spent your whole life smack-talking love poems, spend the next few months trying to craft the most beautiful love poems you can muster! If nothing else, you’ll learn something.

9. Take a lesson out of the Ray Davies songwriting book.

A story or poem idea is never more than just a newspaper away. Inhabit a character from current events. Write rhymed verse about the underwater photography in National Geographic. Look to the outer world to inspire you. If it resonates you’re your inner life, you’ll be able to take the subject in a new direction.

10. Write every single day.

If you’re having fun simply writing, and if your work doesn’t have to be unbelievably brilliant every single time you put pen to paper, then there’s no excuse not to do it as often as possible. Practice doesn’t make you perfect; it makes you a better problem-solver.

11. Join or start a writing group.

The encouragement that comes from a writing group can be invaluable. If you trust and respect the other members of the group, your confidence and skills as a reader and writer will grow. You’ll also be challenging each other with weekly writing prompts. Check out BookBaby’s advice on how to start your own writing group and run an informal workshop. (http://blog.bookbaby.com/2011/06/top-5-tips-to-starting-a-writers-group/)

12. Combine all of these approaches.

Make a habit of habit-breaking. Since you won’t be staring down the barrel of any deadlines (right?), you can try as many crazy approaches as you like. Write as often as you can. Don’t be afraid to write absolute drivel. Once you’ve amassed enough material you can throw out the garbage, keep the good stuff, revise, and release only your most polished prose or poetry into the world. Everybody but your trash collector will assume you’re a total genius all the time!

13. ___________________________________.

Ah, lucky #13: the mystery step. This is one for you to fill in based on your own experience, tastes, talents, and limitations. The above suggestions are just the advice of one occasionally humble man. Trust yourself. You probably know better than anyone else what you need as a writer.

Chris Robley is a writer, poet, and marketer for BookBaby.com. Publish your book on the Kindle, iPad, Nook and more. Learn more about BookBaby Publishing

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Everything is moving very fast right now.

Ebooks are going nuts with new Kindles, new markets and sites launching all over the place. Mid-list authors are leaving publishers and getting their back-lists launched online. Indie authors are getting signed to Amazon and Big Six publishing. There are blog posts from all sides being enthusiastic one day and then ripping the indies to bits the next.

We’re social networking, blogging, going multi-media, doing promotion and trying to write as many books as fast as possible to take advantage of the coming ebook boom.

It’s time to take a deep breath and remember what the hell we’re doing here.

It’s very easy to get swept away and be so frantic with production that we forget a few important things.

Life is a journey, not a destination. Enjoy the writing process. Enjoy the editing. Enjoy creating something from nothing.

Enjoy the research and the knowledge we learn while we’re writing. Enjoying helping others along the journey.

Busy does not equal productive.

I am extremely guilty of this myself and am taking some time to consider my goals as an author-entrepreneur and what adds to this the most in terms of my activity. I’m also taking some time out from trying to finish my next novel, Prophecy. It’s so very almost there, but it’s not there yet and I need to step away to make space for the final pieces to come together. Thinking time is also productive.

I hit this point every six months or so and here I am again. Time to take a break and refocus.

Take time to refill your creative well

Here are some of other posts that might inspire you to take a break.

• The Artist’s Date: Take time to refill your creative well

• What do you want to write in your lifetime? Reflections on mortality

• Boost creativity: Let your mind lie fallow

• 15 ways modern art galleries can inspire writers

Is it just me? How are you feeling right now? Where’s your creative cycle at?

Image: Flickr CC Ecstaticist

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Recently I left my day job to become a full-time author/ creative entrepreneur.

I have had my share of sleepless nights and it is still a scary time. There really is no blueprint for this career, no set office hours, no rules or expectations.

It is the definition of uncertainty.

So it was brilliant to read Jonathan Fields’ new book, Uncertainty, and gain some insight into how others deal with this time on the edge.

Here are some of the key points from the book that I think will also resonate with other authors/creatives.

Uncertainty, risk of loss and criticism.

• Success as an innovator or creator is partly determined by “the ability to manage and at times even seek out sustained high levels of uncertainty, bundled lovingly with risk of loss and exposure to criticism.” This seems to me what writers have to deal with all the time but perhaps it never gets any easier. There will always be a risk in writing a book. Often you spend months or years with your work and then release it to a market that may or may not want it. There is a risk of loss financially and also to self-esteem. Taking criticism seems a fundamental part of being an author and something I have struggled with personally. This book makes you feel part of a bigger crowd of creatives out there in the world, hammering away at their craft, trying to produce something marvelous. It makes it ok to feel this way.

• Google’s 20% time as an example of the time needed to play around the boundaries of what we are working on, to give us space to not be judged. I need this because I used to work as a freelance IT consultant where every day was billable. I think of time as something to always be filled with something busy. But as a creative, I need to slow down more and realize that some time is just playing and may or may not end up with a specific result. It may also generate the best ideas. Being busy is not necessarily productive towards the goals I now have for myself.

• Fear of failure and going to zero. In giving up the regular income, the fear of losing everything is acute. Even after saving up a safety net, doing the sums on how much time I have before the well runs dry and having a supportive husband, I am afraid of ending up with nothing. But this doomsday scenario thinking is crazy and I know that. In the book, Jonathan recommends naming the monster and writing it all out. For me, the worst case scenario is that I get another job in 6 months if this doesn’t work out. I will not be starving on the streets. I will just be embarrassed in front of you guys. I can’t let that fear of failure stop me from trying in the first place, and neither can you.

Ride the butterflies.

• “If only we’d learned how to harness and ride the butterflies that live in the gut of every person who strives to create something extraordinary from nothing.” This is the essence of coping with the fear that sometimes threatens to take over. It’s recognizing that it is entirely normal and then living with it in a manageable way. It’s also good to think of these feelings as butterflies, beautiful and not a threat. Just there. A mentor of mine, Robert Rabbin, helped me in a similar way with fear of public speaking. The ‘nerves’ (similar to butterflies) are reframed as ‘shakti’, a creative energy that can be used as fuel to help with authentic expression.

Using certainty anchors.

• In an uncertain life, ‘certainty anchors’ can help create a structure or ritual around the process. This is something I am learning pretty fast. As an office worker for 13 years I was very used to the morning commute, coffee, lunch at a certain time, meetings, weekly reports, the rhythms of an office life. As a creative entrepreneur and author, I make my own routine which is fantastic but also dangerous as the hours can run away with you.

• Meditation as an anchor but also a way of training your brain to get to the deeper levels of creativity, receptiveness and emptiness. I am one of those people who has dabbled in meditation but haven’t made it a daily practice. I do it when everything becomes too much and it helps immeasurably. Making it a more regular practice would be the next logical step so that I don’t get to that frenzied state. I shall report back on how that goes! Interestingly, I think my resistance to it already proves it’s something I need to do.

The myth of balance.

• I don’t believe there is such a thing as balance when you are trying to achieve something, or pursuing a goal, so it was good to read this in the book too. I don’t know about you but I am constantly bombarded with ideas – for books, for blog posts, for videos. I see opportunity everywhere, the world overflows with it! I write most of this down in a notebook, but with my current novel in progress, Prophecy, it’s the same. There is no specific time spent thinking about it, the book intrudes into all my time, and that is a good thing. Why would I want balance when I am happy in this state? I’ll rest when it’s done (and then I’ll start the next one!)

In conclusion,”uncertainty, risk of loss and exposure to judgment are necessary parts of the quest.” This book will help you see your path through them. Highly recommended (yes, that is an Amazon affiliate link below because it’s a great book).

You can find all the details about Jonathan Fields’ Uncertainty at TheUncertaintyBook.com

You can also find Jonathan at his blog and on twitter @jonathanfields

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I have met some amazing people on this creative journey and Jeremiah Abrams has a great deal of knowledge to share that I know some of you will resonate with. Last year I was the teacher on a retreat in Bali and this year, Jeremiah is teaching at the same resort in Ubud, Bali on the theme of Write for Your Life–Developing a Strong Narrative Voice. The retreat is just after the Ubud Writer’s Festival so check it out if you’re keen to learn, write and grow in paradise. 

There are three rules for writing well.
Unfortunately no one knows what they are.
––W. Somerset Maugham

Somerset Maugham, who was reputed to be the most highly paid author in the English language during the 1930’s, had neither need nor time for rules about writing.  He was on a productive rip and much too busy applying himself to his meteoric writing career.  Yet what a lovely conundrum Maugham has given writers to contemplate:  there are rules for writing/ there are no rules for writing.

It is a minefield out there (in there). The solo task of writing can wind one through labyrinths of distraction.  Writers must dodge temptations to reduce their task to obeisance to a set of simplified rules and also avoid the perfectionist’s obsession with a right way to write. The real mission of writing resides in finding one’s authentic narrative voice and allowing it to speak through the page.  This is the ultimate concern for us as writers, to find and do what enables us to author our authentic voice.

But writers certainly can benefit from knowing the experience of other writers. The blood and guts of the writer’s calling can be absorbed from biographies and interviews with writers whose works we admire intensely.  And it is satisfying and useful to swap stories about writing. Sharing in writers’ circles and groups is an increasingly popular and useful pastime for the contemporary writer. We may learn just what we need by listening to what emerges in a gaggle of writers.

And what about antidotes for writer’s block, the dreaded demon enemy?  Not everyone suffers from blockage, but we all could use a preventive dose of suggestions on hand, just in case the cliché becomes a reality. You can find a raft of rules for writer’s block in the information stream; just google the phrase “antidotes for writer’s block.”  I particularly like Tom Robbins advice:

“If you’re willing to take chances, risk ridicule, and push the envelope, and if you’ve managed to hold on to your imagination (the single most important quality a writer can possess, even slightly more important than an itchy curiosity and a sense of humor), then you can dissolve any so-called block by imagining extraordinary, therefore unthinkable solutions, and/or by playing around uninhibitedly with language.”  (Wild Ducks Flying Backward)

When it comes to writer’s block, I see myself as a motivational coach.  I bring enthusiasm to the writing enterprise, knowing that self-expression is always much more than just craft or intention. We each need to find our own best therapy for writer’s block, not to coddle ourselves but to keep the writing habit going.  I especially value what the prolific Irving Stone had to say:  “When I have trouble writing, I step outside into the garden and pull weeds. . . best therapy there is for writer’s block.”

As for the three rules for writers promised in my title, I say to hell with Maugham, here is what makes sense to me today:

1. Be A Reader

The trait all writers have in common is a passion for the written word. Learn from other writers, find the writers who turn you on, emulate them, compete with them, honor their trail-blazing, and, short of plagiarism, borrow from them. T.S. Eliot once said that the best way to judge poetry “ . . .is the way in which a poet borrows.” What Eliot observed about poetry easily applies to all forms of writing: “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn; the bad poet throws it into something which has no cohesion. A good poet will usually borrow from authors remote in time, or alien in language, or diverse in interest.”

2. Listen To Your Inner Voice And Take Dictation

In my own research listening to and reading many interviews with writers, I found this surprising result. The majority of authors explicitly stated that their writing process consisted of listening first.  The creative act is in writing down what you hear.  Whether it is a character speaking dialogue or a discursive inner monologue, crafting your writing means being the scribe to an internal narrative process.

3. Read Your Written Work Out Loud

Hearing your own words spoken aloud is essential for editing and rewriting.  Listen for the music and cadence as the words flow and fall  like a dancing brook of ideas and feelings. Instantly, you will hear what does not belong and also notice where the narrative thread needs work.

Jeremiah Abrams is a Jungian psychotherapist and author, based in the San Francisco Bay area of California.  An avid reader and researcher he has also had a career of writing, editing and publishing. Jeremiah helped to launch the New Consciousness Readers series for Penguin/Tarcher with his books Reclaiming the Inner Child and the best-selling Meeting the Shadow.   His newest work is part audio, part music and part writing,  The Dreamtime Journey: The Path of Direct Experience.

Jeremiah is leading a writing retreat October 9-15 2011 in Ubud, Bali: Write for Your Life–Developing a Strong Narrative Voice

Also in Bali, October 17-23,  Jeremiah Abrams and Jutka Freiman are teaching “It’s About Love: Removing the Barriers,” a retreat for healing the wounds of love.  www.itsaboutlove.posterous.com

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**Warning: personal post*

Back in 2007, I was very unhappy in my day job.

In fact, I’ve never been happy in my day job but it paid the bills, enabled me to travel and I met a lot of great people. It was a mixed blessing. I fell into it to repay my student loan and just never escaped. I worked for big companies on computer systems and the work killed any creativity I had in me.

yes, that's really me! Great fun adventures...

In 2000, I resigned, left London for the Australian outback and swore never to do it again. My adventures were fantastic but eventually I ran out of money and went back. This cycle repeated itself a number of times… then in 2007, I was really, seriously over it. So I began investigating what else I could do with my life that would be helpful to other people and also enable me to escape the day job.

At the time, I read two books that made a huge impact on me. The Success Principles by Jack Canfield and The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. They talked about following your dreams and also using affirmations to set your intentions. The problem with changing your life is often knowing what you want instead of the status quo. When I looked at what I had always wanted, it was only ever to be a writer.

So I came up with my affirmation “I am creative. I am an author”.

At the time, I was not creative and I was not an author. Sure, I wrote diaries and letters but I couldn’t ever associate the word creative with me. I couldn’t even say this phrase out loud at first. I wrote it down and then started whispering it on the commute home (when no one was around!) I also moved to four days a week at the day job to give myself head-space to write my first book.

In April 2008, I self-published How To Enjoy Your Job…Or Find A New One. I was so happy and proud of myself. I thought I was going to change the world and free millions of IT consultants from their miserable lives. I spent money on printing physical books and did some old-style PR with press releases, radio and even national TV.

But I only sold a few books. Literally, a few. Even with national TV. I was devastated, but wasn’t intending to give up (as the affirmations were really kicking in now!) I also discovered that the book you write will change your life. It really did change mine as I understood what writing a book was like and I had found my purpose.

But I realized that I didn’t actually have a clue about marketing online. I had focused on traditional PR but what about the internet? So I started researching and buying online programs to learn about blogging and podcasting and other things.

After a couple of other attempts at blogging, I started this site in December 2008 in order to share what I had learned with the failure of my first book. For example, I had spent thousands of dollars on printing books and then discovered print on demand and selling on Amazon. I was determined that no one else would pay the price I did and I wanted to save people time, money and emotional energy on their own journey. I had also started feeling and becoming creative and the name ‘The Creative Penn’ came to me on the commute one day. I claimed the word for myself and have grown into it over time!

Since then, this site has grown and I have personally grown as a writer. Many of you have been here to see the changes over time. Thank you for sharing the journey with me so far. I have also continued to invest in my education as an online marketer and I absolutely love our online author community. In February this year, I published Pentecost, my first novel, which has now sold over 11,000 copies and remains an Amazon bestseller. The sequel, Prophecy is on its way.

So in August 2011, I decided that my affirmation has been fulfilled. I am creative and I am an author. I wanted to share this with you as encouragement as I know the fears that come with writing and the doubts that plague us. I’m an introvert too and have been crushed and hurt along the way. But I am also truly excited about the years to come as we are part of an incredible change in the industry.

So, all this background is to prepare you for my big news.

I have resigned my day job as an IT consultant in order to focus on my fiction writing and also on The Creative Penn community of writers and authors.

This is not a decision taken lightly (and yes, I have been saving for a while so there is a cushion). This has been coming since that day in 2007 when I just couldn’t take any more but it has taken this long to make a change that my risk-averse nature can bear. There have also been some inspirational people who have helped along the way, including Jonathan Fields with his new book, Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance which kicked me over the final line.

This is an uncertain time but I can see the way forward as an indie author and also as someone who can contribute to the creative community. I’m ready to make the leap!

What does this mean for you?

This blog makes me happy I don’t mean to sound cheesy but I love to be useful and sharing what works (and what doesn’t), as well as lessons learned, is very satisfying. I love getting emails from you and I love the comments. I hope you continue to find the site useful.

So you will still be getting the same quality of free information in terms of articles, audios and videos – nothing changes with the baseline of what you already get on this site. I love sharing and interviewing people and this is a great community, so stick around.

But this change gives me 40-50 extra hours per week (wow!) and so the following will also become available:

• More fiction. If you enjoyed Pentecost, you will love Prophecy and now I will have more time to write! I’m going to be spending every morning writing fiction and every afternoon on this business, so expect the fiction back-list to be growing. Yes, I still want to be a Kindle millionaire Also, I will be starting a new blog for my fiction readers who are a different audience to this one.

• Webinars – I will be doing 1 free tele-seminar a month on a specific topic. It will relate to my Author 2.0 mini-courses and there will be offers at the end but the webinar itself will be free so you’ll get 60 mins quality info and get to ask your questions. Recordings will be available to those who sign up. The first one is on Blogging for Authors but it is now full-up so if you missed this one, be ready for next month which I notify to my email list first.

There will also be Paid webinars. 90 mins of outstanding content with the recording and material available afterwards as well as Q&A and writing critiques. These will be paid for events that you can attend live or receive the recordings later. The first one will be on Writing A Fight Scene with awesome martial artist and author Alan Baxter – You can listen to a 40 min audio & video with Alan here as a taster of what’s to come but the webinar will be so much more. Click here to register your interest and we’ll let you know when it is scheduled. The cost will be US$20 and places are limited.

• Multi-media courses. You can already buy Blogging for Authors and Writers and Ebook Publishing as multi-media courses and I will be developing other offerings in this space. I will be bringing out How to launch your book online and also a product on writing your first book. I will also be revamping and re-releasing my full Author 2.0 program. (Anyone who has already bought it at the existing price will continue to get all the revamped modules and extra bonus material – it’s a lifetime membership but the price will be going up).

• Services. Every day I am asked to recommend people for ebook formatting, cover design, editing, blog building or marketing. In order to expand The Creative Penn, I will be partnering with special people to offer packages that give you value with people I can personally vouch for. To kick-start this, you can now get Kindle formatting for your book packages – click here for more information.

• 1:1 Consulting. I am really looking forward to helping more people with their journey and I will be offering a restricted number of targeted consulting sessions on reviewing and improving author platforms. So if you are interested, click here for more information.

I hope you can see The Creative Penn becoming a resource hub for writers and authors, a community where we can help each other and learn together.

I’m looking forward to the next step (which is just slightly outside my comfort zone!).

Please let me know your thoughts about these changes. Are there any other ways I can help you?

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The creative process is an individual journey but I enjoy hearing how other people do it and I like to have the more contemplative articles to balance out the practical, how-to stuff that I usually feature! This is a guest post from Isabel Anders.

“The easiest thing on earth is to come up with an idea. The hardest thing on earth is to put it down [write it]. … Ideas are probably … in the air”  —Rod Serling of TheTwilight Zone, on the writing process.

“Writing doesn’t mean necessarily putting words on a sheet of paper. You can write a chapter while walking or eating.”
—Umberto Eco.

How about composing your book while trying to fall asleep?
Recently when I was being interviewed about one of my books, the interviewer asked me where I got my ideas. The first thought I had was how often, when I’m experiencing insomnia, I ask myself, “What should I be thinking about and working on next?” And I told her that, adding that some of my best book ideas have germinated in that way.

Often I work with potential titles in my mind, juggling the words around until one combination sounds right. Sometimes I even begin to develop an outline with chapter titles, reciting them over to myself in logical order, so that I’ll remember them on waking the next morning.

At other times I have been “given” an actual opening sentence, and I get out of bed to go start an electronic file and record it so I won’t forget. Often these ideas are right on target, and spark the beginning of a successful book project. At other times I find that applying the cool daylight component of morning editorial judgment causes them to fade like wisps of dreams that really can’t be implemented.

But still, I highly recommend the process, and was interested to read (after I had actually begun writing this post in a similar vein) Julia McCutchen’s comments on “How Intuition Can Enhance Your Writing.”

“Ask your intuition for answers to questions and guidance on important decisions relating to any aspect of your authorship.
 Spend some time just before you go to bed settling your body and your mind. Then ask your question clearly and write it down. Set the intention to receive the answer, and then let it go.”

Yes! While I hadn’t thought of it as asking my “intuition,” that well describes the trust that occurs when you open your relaxed and honest mind, sincerely seeking focus and allowing the best of your ideas to rise from the jumbled tangle of what you are thinking about consciously during your work day.
I am fascinated with some classic descriptions of this process. And I see also how what we are reading ourselves feeds into what rises to the surface, leading to the angle we can take with our own writing—as Pablo Neruda described in his Memoirs, “moving in the world of knowing, on the turbulent river of books, like a solitary navigator.”

Here is some more sage advice on the subject:

“You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”
—Franz Kafka.

“Arrange whatever pieces come your way.”
—Virginia Wolff.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
—Albert Einstein.

“The universe is full of radiant suggestion.”
—Poet Mary Oliver.

As Lyall Watson wrote in Beyond Supernature: “There seems to be a direct link between truly creative intelligence and the ability to dilute consciousness, to cut mental corners and practice unusual, lateral thinking in what amounts almost to a state of trance. All the most profound insights seem to flow from breaches in the barrier between waking thought, which tends to be conservative, and dream logic, which is essentially liberal. It cannot be purely accidental that Coleridge composed ‘Kubla Khan’ in his sleep or that Mozart found his best musical inspiration rising like dreams, quite independent of his will. It seems that, under conditions of dissociation, we have the chance to tune in directly to some of the world’s basic rhythms, to become aware of the pattern behind the process.”

Do we have to understand how this works? Definitely not—just to practice it.

Let the experience and insights of some of these “greats” inspire you to allow the best ideas in you to rise to the surface of your conscious life, and then to be worked with like clay.
And remember, for any writer, the idea is only the beginning.

How do you balance your creative and ideas self with the more practical, disciplined side of just getting the words on the page?

Isabel Anders is the author of more than 20 books including Becoming Flame: Uncommon Mother-Daughter Wisdom and Twelfth Day. She is co-author with Diane Marquart Moore of the Father Malachi mystery Chant of Death.

Top image: Flickr CC Ecstacist

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This is a guest post from Julia McCutchen, who helps writers reach their authentic self in their writing and their lives. I personally find Julia’s approach a great juxtaposition to my own, overly practical approach and she has a summer school coming up next week you might be interested in. You can also listen to an interview with Julia here on finding your authentic writer’s voice.

Intuition can be your most powerful ally when it comes to writing your book and taking your message out to the marketplace successfully and with soul. Do you know how to access yours?

An important gateway to conscious creativity, intuition functions beyond the mind and opens the way for intuitive writing. The hallmark of intuition is immediate and direct knowledge without the conscious use of reasoning. Rising above thought but using the mind as a vehicle, intuition is a distinct sense of Knowing.

You will have experienced intuition already even though you may not have been consciously aware that it was guiding you.

Think of a time when you had a strong hunch, a gut feeling that you couldn’t quite explain but which just felt “right”. You may have had an “aha” moment or simply known somehow that you were on the right track.

When it comes to writing, intuition plays a leading role in capturing and communicating your most original and inspired ideas. Intuitive writing will always deliver deeper, richer and more meaningful insights and stories than your rational mind can come up with.

To achieve the best results with your book you need to go the extra mile. Working consciously with your intuition will enable you to do just that!

Here are 3 tips for enhancing your writing by accessing your intuition:

1. Practice deep listening. One of the keys to unlocking intuition is deep listening. There are two components of this complete approach:
Outer listening involves listening to the world around you with curiosity about life, people and relationships …
Inner listening requires turning your focus inwards to what is going on deep inside you.
Take a few moments before you write to listen deeply.

2. Ask your intuition for answers to questions and guidance on important decisions relating to any aspect of your authorship.
Spend some time just before you go to bed settling your body and your mind. Then ask your question clearly and write it down. Set the intention to receive the answer, and then let it go.
Review your thoughts and feelings in the morning and write as soon as possible to reveal ideas which have risen to the surface of your conscious mind. As with all such techniques, real success comes with practice.

3. Act as if your intuition was your most important inner guide. In the early stages of developing intuition, it is important to suspend any disbelief long enough to experience the results you are looking for.
One good way of doing this is to act as if you already have a strong connection to your intuition.

Start with small steps taken one at a time to build your confidence and your experience of being in touch with your intuition. Pay attention to each success, however small. Build your belief up gradually to enjoy the contribution intuition has to make to your writer’s journey.

Julia McCutchen is the Founder & Creative Director of the International Association of Conscious & Creative Writers and teaches a holistic approach to authorship that includes conscious creativity, conscious writing, developing intuition and discovering your authentic voice.
The IACCW Conscious Writing Summer School is a 1 day virtual workshop on Thursday 25 August. Read more here http://www.iaccw.com/70/summer-school-2011

Top image: Flickr Creative Commons from Stuck in Customs

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