The Sound of Story Telling
I’ve been thinking about this one for a long time. And I’ve been observing myself and others. Now I’m ready to share it:
I believe that we as writers have a keen ear to the sound of things. The sound of language. The sound of nature. The sound of life.
Maybe it’s not true. Maybe that’s just me. I would love to have that discussion in the comments, to be honest, because I’m really not sure if this is universal. Continue reading
Campfire Talk
Imagine …
See yourself in a group of familiar people. As you sit around a camp fire, a rocky overhang protects your camp against the cool of the night. You are comfortably perched on a log. Slow talk wanders around the fire, old hunting tales, cooking lore, philosophical thought, and jokes. Sparks drift up into the night sky as a log collapses in the fire. Sweet, acrid wood smoke tickles your nose. In the distance, an owl calls. Finally, you curl up in your blankets or furs and drift into sleep, comforted by the low voices of those who will guard you through the night.
Can you feel this? Were you in this little scene in your mind?
And I took you there, into a completely fictional scene. You could see this. You could feel and hear everything – in your imagination. And possibly, it felt quite real in that moment. You might have felt soothed and comforted by experiencing this scene.
That is the Power of Story Telling: Invoking feelings, touching the heart and creating experiences.
So what is it good for?
Today’s post is a guest blog from Charlotte Duzong, one of my close friends and an amazing business woman. She is an expert in using time efficiently. But I’d better let her speak herself:
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Charlotte Duzong
Thank you, Frauke,
for inviting me to share some of my time-saving tips with your readers, to help busy writers get their book written even if they don’t have time.
If you don’t know me yet, here’s little something about me:
I am Charlotte Duzong, born in Aruba, living in The Netherlands with my two amazing children Kate and Spencer, my partner Jan-Willem and our dog Beaxa. I speak English, Dutch, Spanish and Papiamento. I am an ideas-person and I am passionate about helping moms manage their home and business efficiently. I’m also a recovering night owl who thrives on supporting systems and habits, and who enjoys drinking pinja colada virgin in the sun. Continue reading
The Movie Experience
I’m sure you’ve experienced this: When you watch a good, exciting movie you forget everything around you after a while, and you feel like you’re inside the world of the movie itself. You’re *there*.
And sometimes, it happens with stories that you’re reading, as well.
Now, you’re a writer. And it should be your goal to write in a way that draws the reader into your world, to give him or her that movie experience. Full immersion in a story, to the point that any interruption will bring an angry response.
But how do you to do that? Continue reading
Block
It happens to everyone. We get stuck. We lose focus. And it can happen in any aspect of life. With a project. A novel. A partnership. Or with decluttering.
All we notice is this strange feeling of resistance when we approach that aspect of our life. Our brain refuses to supply us with ideas. In fact, we’d rather clean than even think about that one thing (or things). Of course, this also creates stress. Maybe we’re under a deadline. Maybe we promised and now feel we can’t keep the promise. It’s really awkward and ugly.
Until now, you probably knew only one way of dealing with it: Do it anyway. Push yourself, force it.
And that is painful. Continue reading
Brain Clutter
Very often, we “only” use our creativity in hobbies. Writing, painting, crafting … that’s where we can let lose and stop “functioning”. The rest of the day we simply do things because they have to get done, and maybe the only thing we spend thought on is how to get them done most efficicently.
And that’s doing ourselves a great misservice. Because our brain is not an autopilot (even though it can do that for us). It’s not a storage device for a to-do list or a shopping list. It’s not a drill sergeant.
Our brain was really designed as a problem-solving machine. Yet we rarely use it as such. Continue reading
Comparison
As writers, we compare ourselves to other writers. How much do they write? How well do they write? What’s their Amazon sales rank? And of course, there is always someone who is doing better, who is writing more and who is publishing more.
As humans, we do the same. We see others who are slimmer, fitter or richer than we are. Who seem happier, more famous or even more liked than ourselves.
And it makes us feel small, lazy and like a failure. Continue reading
Rejection
The fear of rejection is huge.
In fact, it is a central fear that every young child feels immediately: Being rejected by one’s family means death, quite simply, because a small child cannot survive without the care and love of its mother and family. Children do anything and everything to remain a member of their family.
And that’s why this fear can hit us so hard even as adults. Deep inside, we remember this underlying, unspoken threat of death by rejection.
Sadly, I have seen talented writers give up their passion because the fear of rejection was greater than their love of words and stories. I wish I could have helped them, but for various reasons I couldn’t.
Now I’m using this opportunity to help you. Continue reading
My novel!
Traditional publishing, self-publishing, or paying a publisher to create a book – there is lots to choose from. Many authors, especially those who just wrote “The End” under their first novel, have no idea what is the best for them.
For a long time, the rule “Money flows towards the author.” was the gold standard.
You are a writer!
Wait. I am a writer?
Maybe you think you aren’t. Maybe you just followed my link here and wonder what the whole thing has to do with you. Well, here it is:
You’re a writer if you tell stories in the written form.
Duh, of course!
But you’re also a writer if you create blog posts, if you send out newsletters, even if you just write copy for your website. And I bet you are doing some of these things. Continue reading
