Top Ten Monday Motivations from 2019 (Part 1)
Ever since we started All About Writing back in 2011, facilitator and writing coach Richard Beynon has been helping you start your week with some Monday Motivation, of the writerly flavour.
To wrap up the year, we’ve compiled ten of the best from 2019, for you to read, or re-read. Here’s the first installment of five.
1. The apprentice in every genius
Some people have a kind of preternatural understanding of story structure, an inborn ability to create memorable characters and a clear appreciation of the need for detail, tension and conflict in their narrative. Lucky them… [more]
2. A yeasty tale of bread and inspiration
I had a long conversation with a breadmaker last night. It was the occasion of a friend’s seventieth birthday party, and the tables groaned beneath a range of dishes too various and numerous to name. But chief amongst them was a breadboard with two singular, round loaves of sourdough bread – both the product of the breadmaker’s craft… [more]
3. You must obey the rules of writing, unless you don’t
Writing has rules, yes? Rules of punctuation. Rules of grammar. Rules regarding cause before effect (the first should come before the second). Rules regarding point of view. Rules regarding structure. Rules regarding sentence length… [more]
4. The long and winding road to competence
It is a very curious process, this business of learning new skills. It proceeds by fits and starts.
It was Ernest Hemingway channeling Mark Twain or F. Scott Fitzgerald (or someone else entirely) who, when asked “How did you go bankrupt?” said “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”
If you’re lucky, learning goes like that. For a long time you don’t get it – then you do… [more]
5. Write your way to happiness
Today I am venturing into the tricky waters of self-helpiness… Although, to be honest, I guess that everything I’ve ever written for this blog – which claims to have magical motivational properties – has been about self-improvement in the field of writing… [more]