Michael Devaney's Blog, page 62

I hope you read this, Mr. Hill, because I could really use some professional advice. What do you do when you just don't think you can write anymore? Not burned out, but just unable to pick up a pen and think creatively. I love writing, but I can't even loo

You can pop-start a dead motorcycle by riding it downhill in first gear, then letting out the clutch all at once. Sometimes the motor will turn over with a boom and your ride is back to life.

I look for one mean little sentence to get me going again. Something to pop-start the story. Like:

"Wind scoured the beach."

"The shouting woke her."

"The car began to slide in the wet snow."

"Shell casings flashed in the weeds."

Or I’ll try and get a couple of my characters talking. If you can find your way to an exciting character, a lot of times that will bring you emotionally back to your work… and dialogue is a reliable way to discover character.

Think about the way people don’t listen to each other, talk past each other, focus on their own weird little obsessions. Have fun with your characters’s fixations and eccentricities and unique manners of speech.

Are you reading anything good? One way to get excited about your own writing is to get excited about someone else’s.

Try sneaking up on it. Decide you’ll write one sentence, then fold some laundry for five minutes. Then you’ll write two sentences. Leave the pen and paper out where you can see them. In the middle of folding the underwear you might suddenly come up with a sentence you can’t wait to write. I write letters to friends that take me days. I just leave the stationery out and add to the letter whenever something interesting occurs to me.

Have a little mercy on yourself. If the best you can do is a paragraph, make it a great fuckin’ paragraph and then be done for the day. Go for a walk. No one day of writing matters all that much.

Remember to keep physically active. More and more I think this is the secret ingredient of a successful creative life. Go for a long walk every day - you’ll be surprised how often you come back with a few new ideas.

Good luck.

I hope you read this, Mr. Hill, because I could really use some professional advice. What do you do when you just don't think you can write anymore? Not burned out, but just unable to pick up a pen and think creatively. I love writing, but I can't even loo

You can pop-start a dead motorcycle by riding it downhill in first gear, then letting out the clutch all at once. Sometimes the motor will turn over with a boom and your ride is back to life.

I look for one mean little sentence to get me going again. Something to pop-start the story. Like:

"Wind scoured the beach."

"The shouting woke her."

"The car began to slide in the wet snow."

"Shell casings flashed in the weeds."

Or I’ll try and get a couple of my characters talking. If you can find your way to an exciting character, a lot of times that will bring you emotionally back to your work… and dialogue is a reliable way to discover character.

Think about the way people don’t listen to each other, talk past each other, focus on their own weird little obsessions. Have fun with your characters’s fixations and eccentricities and unique manners of speech.

Are you reading anything good? One way to get excited about your own writing is to get excited about someone else’s.

Try sneaking up on it. Decide you’ll write one sentence, then fold some laundry for five minutes. Then you’ll write two sentences. Leave the pen and paper out where you can see them. In the middle of folding the underwear you might suddenly come up with a sentence you can’t wait to write. I write letters to friends that take me days. I just leave the stationery out and add to the letter whenever something interesting occurs to me.

Have a little mercy on yourself. If the best you can do is a paragraph, make it a great fuckin’ paragraph and then be done for the day. Go for a walk. No one day of writing matters all that much.

Remember to keep physically active. More and more I think this is the secret ingredient of a successful creative life. Go for a long walk every day - you’ll be surprised how often you come back with a few new ideas.

Good luck.

I hope you read this, Mr. Hill, because I could really use some professional advice. What do you do when you just don't think you can write anymore? Not burned out, but just unable to pick up a pen and think creatively. I love writing, but I can't even loo

You can pop-start a dead motorcycle by riding it downhill in first gear, then letting out the clutch all at once. Sometimes the motor will turn over with a boom and your ride is back to life.

I look for one mean little sentence to get me going again. Something to pop-start the story. Like:

"Wind scoured the beach."

"The shouting woke her."

"The car began to slide in the wet snow."

"Shell casings flashed in the weeds."

Or I’ll try and get a couple of my characters talking. If you can find your way to an exciting character, a lot of times that will bring you emotionally back to your work… and dialogue is a reliable way to discover character.

Think about the way people don’t listen to each other, talk past each other, focus on their own weird little obsessions. Have fun with your characters’s fixations and eccentricities and unique manners of speech.

Are you reading anything good? One way to get excited about your own writing is to get excited about someone else’s.

Try sneaking up on it. Decide you’ll write one sentence, then fold some laundry for five minutes. Then you’ll write two sentences. Leave the pen and paper out where you can see them. In the middle of folding the underwear you might suddenly come up with a sentence you can’t wait to write. I write letters to friends that take me days. I just leave the stationery out and add to the letter whenever something interesting occurs to me.

Have a little mercy on yourself. If the best you can do is a paragraph, make it a great fuckin’ paragraph and then be done for the day. Go for a walk. No one day of writing matters all that much.

Remember to keep physically active. More and more I think this is the secret ingredient of a successful creative life. Go for a long walk every day - you’ll be surprised how often you come back with a few new ideas.

Good luck.

I hope you read this, Mr. Hill, because I could really use some professional advice. What do you do when you just don't think you can write anymore? Not burned out, but just unable to pick up a pen and think creatively. I love writing, but I can't even loo

You can pop-start a dead motorcycle by riding it downhill in first gear, then letting out the clutch all at once. Sometimes the motor will turn over with a boom and your ride is back to life.

I look for one mean little sentence to get me going again. Something to pop-start the story. Like:

"Wind scoured the beach."

"The shouting woke her."

"The car began to slide in the wet snow."

"Shell casings flashed in the weeds."

Or I’ll try and get a couple of my characters talking. If you can find your way to an exciting character, a lot of times that will bring you emotionally back to your work… and dialogue is a reliable way to discover character.

Think about the way people don’t listen to each other, talk past each other, focus on their own weird little obsessions. Have fun with your characters’s fixations and eccentricities and unique manners of speech.

Are you reading anything good? One way to get excited about your own writing is to get excited about someone else’s.

Try sneaking up on it. Decide you’ll write one sentence, then fold some laundry for five minutes. Then you’ll write two sentences. Leave the pen and paper out where you can see them. In the middle of folding the underwear you might suddenly come up with a sentence you can’t wait to write. I write letters to friends that take me days. I just leave the stationery out and add to the letter whenever something interesting occurs to me.

Have a little mercy on yourself. If the best you can do is a paragraph, make it a great fuckin’ paragraph and then be done for the day. Go for a walk. No one day of writing matters all that much.

Remember to keep physically active. More and more I think this is the secret ingredient of a successful creative life. Go for a long walk every day - you’ll be surprised how often you come back with a few new ideas.

Good luck.

I hope you read this, Mr. Hill, because I could really use some professional advice. What do you do when you just don't think you can write anymore? Not burned out, but just unable to pick up a pen and think creatively. I love writing, but I can't even loo

You can pop-start a dead motorcycle by riding it downhill in first gear, then letting out the clutch all at once. Sometimes the motor will turn over with a boom and your ride is back to life.

I look for one mean little sentence to get me going again. Something to pop-start the story. Like:

"Wind scoured the beach."

"The shouting woke her."

"The car began to slide in the wet snow."

"Shell casings flashed in the weeds."

Or I’ll try and get a couple of my characters talking. If you can find your way to an exciting character, a lot of times that will bring you emotionally back to your work… and dialogue is a reliable way to discover character.

Think about the way people don’t listen to each other, talk past each other, focus on their own weird little obsessions. Have fun with your characters’s fixations and eccentricities and unique manners of speech.

Are you reading anything good? One way to get excited about your own writing is to get excited about someone else’s.

Try sneaking up on it. Decide you’ll write one sentence, then fold some laundry for five minutes. Then you’ll write two sentences. Leave the pen and paper out where you can see them. In the middle of folding the underwear you might suddenly come up with a sentence you can’t wait to write. I write letters to friends that take me days. I just leave the stationery out and add to the letter whenever something interesting occurs to me.

Have a little mercy on yourself. If the best you can do is a paragraph, make it a great fuckin’ paragraph and then be done for the day. Go for a walk. No one day of writing matters all that much.

Remember to keep physically active. More and more I think this is the secret ingredient of a successful creative life. Go for a long walk every day - you’ll be surprised how often you come back with a few new ideas.

Good luck.

I hope you read this, Mr. Hill, because I could really use some professional advice. What do you do when you just don't think you can write anymore? Not burned out, but just unable to pick up a pen and think creatively. I love writing, but I can't even loo

You can pop-start a dead motorcycle by riding it downhill in first gear, then letting out the clutch all at once. Sometimes the motor will turn over with a boom and your ride is back to life.

I look for one mean little sentence to get me going again. Something to pop-start the story. Like:

"Wind scoured the beach."

"The shouting woke her."

"The car began to slide in the wet snow."

"Shell casings flashed in the weeds."

Or I’ll try and get a couple of my characters talking. If you can find your way to an exciting character, a lot of times that will bring you emotionally back to your work… and dialogue is a reliable way to discover character.

Think about the way people don’t listen to each other, talk past each other, focus on their own weird little obsessions. Have fun with your characters’s fixations and eccentricities and unique manners of speech.

Are you reading anything good? One way to get excited about your own writing is to get excited about someone else’s.

Try sneaking up on it. Decide you’ll write one sentence, then fold some laundry for five minutes. Then you’ll write two sentences. Leave the pen and paper out where you can see them. In the middle of folding the underwear you might suddenly come up with a sentence you can’t wait to write. I write letters to friends that take me days. I just leave the stationery out and add to the letter whenever something interesting occurs to me.

Have a little mercy on yourself. If the best you can do is a paragraph, make it a great fuckin’ paragraph and then be done for the day. Go for a walk. No one day of writing matters all that much.

Remember to keep physically active. More and more I think this is the secret ingredient of a successful creative life. Go for a long walk every day - you’ll be surprised how often you come back with a few new ideas.

Good luck.

I hope you read this, Mr. Hill, because I could really use some professional advice. What do you do when you just don't think you can write anymore? Not burned out, but just unable to pick up a pen and think creatively. I love writing, but I can't even loo

You can pop-start a dead motorcycle by riding it downhill in first gear, then letting out the clutch all at once. Sometimes the motor will turn over with a boom and your ride is back to life.

I look for one mean little sentence to get me going again. Something to pop-start the story. Like:

"Wind scoured the beach."

"The shouting woke her."

"The car began to slide in the wet snow."

"Shell casings flashed in the weeds."

Or I’ll try and get a couple of my characters talking. If you can find your way to an exciting character, a lot of times that will bring you emotionally back to your work… and dialogue is a reliable way to discover character.

Think about the way people don’t listen to each other, talk past each other, focus on their own weird little obsessions. Have fun with your characters’s fixations and eccentricities and unique manners of speech.

Are you reading anything good? One way to get excited about your own writing is to get excited about someone else’s.

Try sneaking up on it. Decide you’ll write one sentence, then fold some laundry for five minutes. Then you’ll write two sentences. Leave the pen and paper out where you can see them. In the middle of folding the underwear you might suddenly come up with a sentence you can’t wait to write. I write letters to friends that take me days. I just leave the stationery out and add to the letter whenever something interesting occurs to me.

Have a little mercy on yourself. If the best you can do is a paragraph, make it a great fuckin’ paragraph and then be done for the day. Go for a walk. No one day of writing matters all that much.

Remember to keep physically active. More and more I think this is the secret ingredient of a successful creative life. Go for a long walk every day - you’ll be surprised how often you come back with a few new ideas.

Good luck.

I hope you read this, Mr. Hill, because I could really use some professional advice. What do you do when you just don't think you can write anymore? Not burned out, but just unable to pick up a pen and think creatively. I love writing, but I can't even loo

You can pop-start a dead motorcycle by riding it downhill in first gear, then letting out the clutch all at once. Sometimes the motor will turn over with a boom and your ride is back to life.

I look for one mean little sentence to get me going again. Something to pop-start the story. Like:

"Wind scoured the beach."

"The shouting woke her."

"The car began to slide in the wet snow."

"Shell casings flashed in the weeds."

Or I’ll try and get a couple of my characters talking. If you can find your way to an exciting character, a lot of times that will bring you emotionally back to your work… and dialogue is a reliable way to discover character.

Think about the way people don’t listen to each other, talk past each other, focus on their own weird little obsessions. Have fun with your characters’s fixations and eccentricities and unique manners of speech.

Are you reading anything good? One way to get excited about your own writing is to get excited about someone else’s.

Try sneaking up on it. Decide you’ll write one sentence, then fold some laundry for five minutes. Then you’ll write two sentences. Leave the pen and paper out where you can see them. In the middle of folding the underwear you might suddenly come up with a sentence you can’t wait to write. I write letters to friends that take me days. I just leave the stationery out and add to the letter whenever something interesting occurs to me.

Have a little mercy on yourself. If the best you can do is a paragraph, make it a great fuckin’ paragraph and then be done for the day. Go for a walk. No one day of writing matters all that much.

Remember to keep physically active. More and more I think this is the secret ingredient of a successful creative life. Go for a long walk every day - you’ll be surprised how often you come back with a few new ideas.

Good luck.

He’s a hugger, not a fighter.

He’s a hugger, not a fighter.

Rational Self-interest

"Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life." - Ayn Rand