Mark David Gerson's Blog, page 28

Vision & Revision II ~ A Radical Approach to Editing

What follows is Part II of my two-part series on my radically heartful approach to polishing your work and your words.

As I noted in Vision & Revision I, we're accustomed to seeing the editing process as a harsh, left-brain, punishing activity. What I propose instead is a new paradigm, one that respects your work in all its drafts and that also respects you as its creator.

One way to start on that path, apart from crafting a vision statement for your work is to let these seven principles guide ...

Vision & Revision I

We're accustomed to seeing the editing process as a harsh, left-brain activity too often filled with violent and abusive language: It's about forcing the work to our will, gagging, restraining or reigning in our characters, hacking away at our work or banging our manuscript into shape. Yet when we treat our drafts with such disrespect, we're also disrespecting ourselves as its creator.

What follows is Part I of a two-part series on a more heartful approach to polishing your work and your...

Acts of Surrender

I said I wanted open spaces now I'm tradin' them in
Some things are better found within
My heart is the only open space I need to live in
~ Erich "Sky" Lenk

It's October 1995 and I'm celebrating my 41st birthday in quiet meditation in my rural Nova Scotia apartment. As so often has happened in recent years, another birthday has heralded another major life change. It was on my 40th birthday, for example, that I drove off the Princess of Acadia ferry from New Brunswick to launch a new life in Nova ...

LA Countdown: My *2 Final* NM Writing Events

If you follow this blog, you'll know I'll soon be leaving New Mexico for Los Angeles. As far as I know, these are my final New Mexico workshops. I hope you can join me for one or both!

Also, as part of my moving plans, I'm offering discounts of up to 45% on my private coaching services for a limited time. Wherever you live, let me help you unleash the power of your creative potential with one-on-one coaching and/or mentoring!


• Up-to-date listing of all Mark David's upcoming events• Registrati...

Free Your Characters. Free Your Story.

"God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. ..."

Your act of creation is like God's in Genesis, an act of allowance, of letting...of surrender. Surrender to the story that calls to be written, surrender to how it calls to be written, surrender to the lives your characters choose to live. For, if you're writing fiction, those lives are your story.

Just as the Creator in most religious and spiritual traditions allows you the free will to live your imperative and forge your story through...

A Novel Approach to Birthing Your Book

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
~ W. Somerset Maugham

Somerset Maugham may have been talking about fiction. But, for me, that statement applies to the birth of any book. And it's no surprise that I love that quote, given how perfectly it supports my first "rule" for birthing your book...

1. There are no rules.
This is the one rule that never changes. No matter what you're writing or revising, the only unqualified certainties are that flow is f...

Private Coaching: Save More Than 45% for a Limited Time

To help celebrate my plans to move to L.A. in a few months, I'm offering substantial discounts on my private coaching services for writers.

Limited Time: Save up to 45% on coaching series!Book Now & Save!

• Are you ready to move past your writing blocks and distractions?• Are you ready to write more easily, naturally and spontaneously?• Do you have a book in you that s yearning to get started...or finished?
Wherever you are in your writing, whatever your concerns and challenges, let me help...

LA Countdown: My 3 *Final* NM Writing Events

If you follow this blog, you'll know I'm leaving New Mexico in a few months for LA. As far as I know, this is my final roster of New Mexico workshops. I hope you can join me for one, two or all three!

Also, as part of my moving plans, I'm offering discounts of up to 45% on my private coaching services for a limited time. Wherever you live, let me help you unleash the power of your creative potential with one-on-one coaching and/or mentoring!

• Up-to-date listing of all Mark David's upcoming...

Mark David's *Final* New Mexico Writing Events

• Up-to-date listing of all Mark David's upcoming events• Registration information for all Mark David's events
• Contact Mark David for more information

• Saturday, April 17 ~ 10-5pm From Memory to Memoir: Writing the Stories of Your Life
What you have lived is unique.What you have learned is beyond price.What you can share through your words carries the potential to transform you and others in ways you cannot begin to imagine.
Be inspired as you learn powerful techniques to help you create...

The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson (#10): Radio About Writing, Creativity & Life

Episode Ten: Thursday, April 15, 1pm ET

(click here to listen live or to listen to or download the archived version any time after the show airs)

• Inspiration for your creative life and to help you live creatively• Ask the Writing Coach (your questions for me about writing and creativity)
• Feature interview with Gail Lynne Goodwin, founder of inspiremetoday.com.

If you're feeling uninspired, you haven't yet come across Gail Lynne Goodwin. This global ambassador of inspiration has made it...