Sandra Scofield’s The Scene BookChapters 3 & 4: Beats & The Focal PointDrop the Beat: Pacing Your Scenes Moment by Moment What’s a beat? If you don’t know, you’re in good company, because neither did we until we cracked open this chapter of Sandra Scofield’s The Scene Book. Beats are the tiny units of action…
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In today’s episode we take a break from discussing and analyzing creative fiction to examining possibly one of the most important, and certainly most stressful, nonfiction projects in a young person’s life: writing their college application essay.
Our guest, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Martha Mendoza, has been helping high school seniors with these essays for over a decade and is one of the organizers in her local school district’s annual essay mentoring program. In our discussion she talks about what makes these essays so difficult, gives advice for how seniors might choose topics and how we, as writers, might help a student out.
Remember, we have a Writers Process meetup every Wednesday. Check us out.
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Sandra Scofield’s The Scene BookChapter 2: Event and MeaningHow Actions Add Up in Scenes After countless episodes complaining that writing advice books skimp on examples, we may have finally found one with too many. Chapter 2 of Sandra Scofield’s The Scene Book shows how to build a scene through action and how to make that…
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Sandra Scofield’s The Scene BookChapter 1: The BasicsBasic Concepts About Scenes There’s something about a new craft book and all its promise. Renee is so happy that she’s worried she won’t do anything but gush over the first chapter of Sandra Scofield’s The Scene Book. We’ll find out in today’s episode. We start with what…
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Sandra Scofield’s The Scene Book Introduction(and good riddance Julia Cameron) We’re saying goodbye to The Artist’s Way — and honestly, good riddance. We’re recapping our favorite quotes, the insights that actually landed, and the many, many reasons this was the most frustrating craft book we’ve covered on this show. Would we recommend it? Hard no….
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Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 12: Recovering a Sense of Faith We finally finished The Artist’s Way—Julia Cameron’s self-help bible for unlocking your creative potential. Spoiler: our potential remains firmly locked. Was it a lack of faith? Of confidence? Of cognitive dissonance? All we know for sure: the Morning Pages did not save us. But…
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Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 9: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy If you listen to this podcast, you probably dream of becoming a successful writer. But what happens when you actually get there—and find yourself flailing and blocked anyway? Sounds like a best-selling-author problem, the kind that shouldn’t have a place in Julia Cameron’s book,…
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Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 10: Recovering a Sense of Self Protection Week 10 of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way finally tackles the elephant in every writer’s room: creative block. And Cameron’s fix isn’t the standard “butt in chair, write daily” gospel (morning pages notwithstanding). No, she goes bigger, blaming workaholism, distraction, fame-chasing, and our…
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Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 9: Recovering a Sense of Compassion What causes writer’s block? According to Julia Cameron, it’s not laziness—it’s fear. This week’s chapter of The Artist’s Way goes deep on identifying what keeps writers from writing, even if the solutions are a little thin on the ground. Cameron argues that blocked writers…
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Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 8: Recovering a Sense of Strength Making art can hurt — even when you’re fully bought into The Artist’s Way. This week Cameron tackles criticism and toxic teachers, and we suspect she’s drawing from some personal experience. Her descriptions of creative wounds ring painfully true; her solutions, less so. We…
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In today's episode we take a break from discussing and analyzing creative fiction to examining possibly one of the most important, and certainly most stressful, nonfiction projects in a...
Sandra Scofield’s The Scene BookChapter 2: Event and MeaningHow Actions Add Up in Scenes After countless episodes complaining that writing advice books skimp on examples, we may have finally...
Sandra Scofield’s The Scene BookChapter 1: The BasicsBasic Concepts About Scenes There’s something about a new craft book and all its promise. Renee is so happy that she’s worried...
Sandra Scofield’s The Scene Book Introduction(and good riddance Julia Cameron) We’re saying goodbye to The Artist’s Way — and honestly, good riddance. We’re recapping our favorite quotes, the insights...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 12: Recovering a Sense of Faith We finally finished The Artist’s Way—Julia Cameron’s self-help bible for unlocking your creative potential. Spoiler: our potential remains...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 9: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy If you listen to this podcast, you probably dream of becoming a successful writer. But what happens when...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 10: Recovering a Sense of Self Protection Week 10 of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way finally tackles the elephant in every writer’s room: creative...
Sandra Scofield’s The Scene BookChapters 3 & 4: Beats & The Focal PointDrop the Beat: Pacing Your Scenes Moment...
In today's episode we take a break from discussing and analyzing creative fiction to examining possibly one of the...
Sandra Scofield’s The Scene BookChapter 2: Event and MeaningHow Actions Add Up in Scenes After countless episodes complaining that...
Sandra Scofield’s The Scene BookChapter 1: The BasicsBasic Concepts About Scenes There’s something about a new craft book and...
Sandra Scofield’s The Scene Book Introduction(and good riddance Julia Cameron) We’re saying goodbye to The Artist’s Way — and...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 12: Recovering a Sense of Faith We finally finished The Artist’s Way—Julia Cameron’s self-help...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 9: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy If you listen to this podcast, you probably...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 10: Recovering a Sense of Self Protection Week 10 of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 9: Recovering a Sense of Compassion What causes writer’s block? According to Julia Cameron,...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 8: Recovering a Sense of Strength Making art can hurt — even when you’re...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek 7: Recovering a Sense of Connection A funny thing happened while we were reading...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek Six: Recovering a Sense of Abundance The starving artist isn’t a cliché for nothing...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek Five: Recovering A Sense of Possibility What gives? We hate this book but love...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek Four: Recovering A Sense of Integrity Do Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages work? Specifically, do...
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s WayWeek Three: Recovering a Sense of Power Should you use anger to fuel your writing?...
Drop the Beat: Pacing Your Scenes Moment by Moment
Sandra Scofield’s The Scene BookChapters 3 & 4: Beats & The Focal PointDrop the Beat: Pacing Your Scenes Moment by Moment What’s a beat? If you don’t know, you’re...