12 Emotional Struggles Only Writers Will Understand (And One Epic Win)

It's a cold, cold world out there, full of grammar corrections and rejection letters. We writers have to deal with a lot more than just actually writing, after all. We have to deal with all these emotions! Everywhere! Getting all over everything!

Emotions are hard, man. Like, for instance...

How To Handle Criticism (As A Writer)

Dealing with criticism can be a seriously tricky business as a writer. After all, the words we put on paper are us. They're our thoughts, our hearts, our words, our souls. Criticism of your words can feel like criticism of your very person.

This, in fact, is one of the reasons many writers get stuck. We don’t want to take risks, or--if we do--we don’t want to show anyone those risks. When we do share our work, if it’s not met with unabashed aplomb, we often react with either severe pain (retreating and licking our wounds, kicking ourselves and vowing never to write again) or anger (a harrumph and a growl, a vow that your reader is uncultured swine and just doesn’t understand your genius).

Both reactions, it might be noted, are rooted in fear. Fear that we’re not good enough. Fear that we don’t measure up.

Are You Fed Up Yet?

Reading Poetry
by Thomas John Walters

I am fed up,

meat on bones,

sucked down,

devoured.

My sails fill up,

winds of dawning lights rustle through pages,

through windows to YES worlds,

rustle hope, rustle yes, rustle the poetic life in me; 

and every greatness is in reach of my heart. 

This poem is for you, writers. That opening line especially.

What feeds you? 

Besides food, I mean. What feeds your soul? What enriches your sense of self? What stimulates your creativity? 

There is something out there that will slice open your sense of wonder like a can-opener slices open those delicious cans of syrupy pineapples.

Mmmmm. Pineapples.

We writers like to be serious. We like to be aloof and wise and research-ey and tough. We like to sit in our stuffy studies with our whiskey, hem and haw about politics, and pretend we know waaaaay more than we do. We like to get fed up in the negative sense. We're fed up with society! With the government! With mainstream entertainment! And most of all we're fed up with those people! You know the ones.

But where's the wonder in that? Where's the joy? Where's the syrupy pineapple goodness?

Get yourself fed up in the wonderful sense. Let's call it the pineapple sense. That should keep you from getting too serious. 

Find out what feeds your soul and DO NOT mock yourself for loving it! Not allowed. 

Play. Go to the beach. Stare at the sea. Climb a tree. Read poetry. Look at art. Make macaroni and inwardly comment how smooth and delicious you find the cheese. Go to your local sock store. Sock art can be way inspiring.

This doesn't have to be refined, people. It only has to awaken that childlike piece of you that enjoys doing handstands and popping bubbles and eating pineapples (see what I did there?). This piece of you has odd questions, strange ideas, and has not yet learned to be self-conscious. It creates constantly, innately, delightedly. Doesn't that sound nice?

Keep with your hard-working writerly self, of course, but get that wonder back. Your writing will be best if you combine the two. 

Find your can opener. Get fed up. Get writing. 

Thanks to Thomas John Walters for writing/sharing the gem of a poem up top!  

10 Ways to Keep Your Focus While You Edit

Editing is one of those things that will either feel like swimming with dolphins through a rainbow sea or trudging with Artax through the Swamp of Sadness. It can be horribly demoralizing watching your baby sink to the depths of what looks like depravity. You're editing and suddenly you think, "This is awful. Why am I bothering?" or "What was I thinking?" or "This is driving me crazy, and I wrote it! What will a reader think?"

With every negative thought, your project looks like it's sinking deeper and deeper into that pile of mud. But you've got to remember (spoiler alert): At the end of the movie, Atreyu is riding happily across a meadow on the back of his beloved Artax. You know why? Because he didn't give up. To that end, I've compiled a happy little list of ways to keep you from giving up when it feels like you just can't go any further with this $%*#@ editing process.

The Beauty of the Bullet Point

Jane Yolen rocks. 

You are a writer. You have goals. For instance, you have committed to writing a:

• Blog post
• Short Story
• Long Story
• Magazine Article
• Pretty much anything with a deadline (either real or imagined)

You are aware, above all, that writers write, so you know you need to get started. But there's all kinds of things preventing you from doing so.

10 Awesome Contests for the Television Writer

There's a lot going on in television right now. In fact, according to CBS, we're currently enjoying the second golden age of the medium, and I have to agree. Movie stars are flocking to a genre that used to be looked down upon (Zooey Deschanel in New Girl, Matthew McConaughey in True Detective, Kevin Spacey in House of Cards), and so are viewers. And you know why? There's incredible content on television right now (like those three amazing shows I just listed...). The ante has been seriously upped. It's a great place for great writers, but how do you break in?

Let's say you've got a spec* script for your favorite sitcom, or maybe you've written a pilot** for a new sci-fi drama. What's the next step? Well, there's a lot of equally difficult routes to get your script*** in front of the people who can make it a real, live show, and writing contests are one fun option. They certainly come with a lot of competition, but the potential prizes and exposure are super exciting! Recently, a fellow writer asked the twitterverse if anyone knew of the best TV-writing contests out there, and as a resident of Tinseltown myself I couldn't help but respond. Here are my 10 favorite writing contests for television****, organized by their impending deadline.