Bryan Collins's Blog, page 102

What Happens When You’re Scared About What People Think

Last month, a friend asked me to help with a street collection for a charity in Dublin. Being introverted, I procrastinated about it for two weeks. Eventually, I decided a good cause trumpets my desire to work alone.

So, I donned a luminous bib for the charity, and I wandered out onto the rainy, cold streets of Dublin with a bucket in hand.

I held out the bucket as strangers walked up and down looking at their phones, shoes, straight ahead, behind, anywhere and everywhere but at me and my hal...

My 2016 Annual Review

At the end of each year, I review what I did, what I failed at and what I’d like to do next. I want to share this review with you, so you can learn from my successes and mistakes and achieve more with your writing during 2017.

Before we get into it, here is a summary of where I’m at:

I’ve been blogging for three years, and I started Become a Writer Today two years ago. I also self-published my first book 2 years ago.

During 2016, I launched a multimedia course for new writers who need help...

Harness the Power of Creativity and Finally Unlock Fresh Thinking Today

Are you ready to build habits, face your fears and change your life? Because that’s the Power of Creativity.

This book is the first in a three-part series I wrote it for for new writers, artists and anyone who has ever asked questions like “How can I become more creative?” or, “How can I get more ideas?” or “How can I focus on my thoughts and just let them flow?”

If you’ve ever struggled with a problem or challenge in your personal or professional life and thought, “I can’t do this, I’m not...

Getting Your Technique Down

[image error]

New York man Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) wanted to do one thing with his life: to live for art. During his teens and early twenties, he experimented with drawing, painting and sculpture.

Then, in 1970 a friend gave Robert a loan of a 360 Land camera, a clunky but technically simple, silver and black device. Robert settled on the camera as his creative tool of expression because “it was more honest.”

At first, Robert restricted himself to only taking pictures of his former -girlfriend and...

Experiment With Form and Substance

“An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success.”

– Henri Matisse

In 1887, Henri Matisse (1869-1954) began to study law and worked as a court administrator in Le Cateau-Cambrésis in Paris, but the trajectory of his life changed after a bout of appendicitis two years later. While recovering, he had little to do. So, his mother bought Henri a box of paints.

“From the moment I held the...

5 Common Writing Mistakes That Will Stop You Finishing Your Book

Are you struggling to finish writing your first book?

The American writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald, once said:

“All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald on writing

Fitzgerald is right, but that doesn’t mean you need to stay underwater so long or spend so much time trying to finish your book, you never come up for air.

So, please, don’t turn writing a book into a harder task than it needs to be.

I want to help you avoid doing that.

In this post, I’ll...

A Fool-proof Guide to Dictating Your Writing

When I was employed as a journalist, I spent a lot of time interviewing people. One of the most painful things I had to do was transcribe long interviews using a keyboard.

My fingers ached after spending an hour pressing play and pause and play and pause… and typing what the interviewees were saying.

I tried using dictation software to transcribe these interviews, but I found the software difficult to use and prone to mistakes.

More recently, I’ve been using the dictation software Dragon Dic...

The Myth of the Drunken Miserable Artist

Do you believe alcohol or drugs unlocks fresh thinking that sobriety can’t? Are you prepared to sacrifice present or future happiness for more inspired ways of thinking?

There’s a pernicious myth that the best artists are unapologetic drug addicts, alcoholics and drunken writers. They take pride in being tortured souls who tap into a higher creative power, and they can only support their immense talents with the crutch of alcohol and drugs.

Yes, alcohol and drugs will help you view the world...

Even Franz Kafka Lacked Self-Belief, Let’s Fix That!

It goes a little like this.

You’re excited about your ideas and writing, you get half-way through your work and then you stop and wonder…

Will people really care about what I’ve got to say? How will this pay my bills anyway? What if I’m wasting my time?

As you think about it, your lack of self-belief paralyses you.

So, you stop writing. You decide against publishing, against telling people about your writing, against submitting your work and even finishing your book.

I get it.

Two years ago,...

Even Franz Kafka Lack Self-Belief, Let’s Fix That!

It goes a little like this.

You’re excited about your ideas and writing, you get half-way through your work and then you stop and wonder…

Will people really care about what I’ve to say? How will this pay my bills anyway? What if I’m wasting my time?

As you think about it, your lack of self-belief paralyses you.

So, you stop writing. You decide against publishing, against telling people about your writing, against submitting your work and even finishing your book.

I get it.

Two years ago, I...