You know that moment in the story when the hero has lost everything, and the odds seem stacked against them, and all seems lost? Imagine if that was the end of the story….what a terrible way to live! But in the stories we love, the hero looks at herself in the mirror and says ‘what am I doing?’.
AND THEN…the hero assembles their team, recognizes the strengths of others in helping them fulfill their quest, and starts making good decisions, at last. Cue: storming the castle, starting the bombing run, making the mad dash across town to catch their lover before they set foot on the plane. Wouldn’t it be nice if life worked that way? Ahem. It DOES. The Problem With Being BrightWere you one of the brainy kids at school? It probably left you with a legacy of expectations that say: you should be able to do this by yourself… …which is a dangerous lie. We are all people who need people. We need them,
How do you go about finding the right people to help in your quest to be a writer? Well, I’ve spent 15 years assembling a community, and six of those years curating a small group of writers who write, who cheer each other on, and who help each other out. Is it any wonder I called the group the StoryADay Superstars? If you’re reading this, I think you belong with us.
I’ve created a gang of like minded writers, and I think you should join us. Give yourself the gift of six months with us and see how it goes. It works out to about $2.77 a day for,
PLUS, if you join us on CYBER MONDAY, you get the I, WRITER Course (6 modules of curated instruction on building a writing practice and buffing up your fiction skills) for FREE!!! (This offer really does go away tonight.) And if you want to talk to me about whether or not this really is a fit for you, just reply to this email and we’ll set something up. No obligations at all (I really do want you to find the right ways to support your writing, not just my way…) Keep writing, Julie P. S. The 2-for-1 deal is amazing value and you should probably grab it now. |
Hi, I'm Julie Duffy, founder & director of StoryADay. Every year since 2010 I've challenged writers like you to prove to themselves that they can write more (and better) than they think, during the StoryADay May challenge. During the rest of the year, StoryADay supports you with the StoryAWeek newsletter (writing lessons & prompts), a popular podcast, blog posts, mini-challenges, courses, and a members' community. StoryADay May has become a fixture on the writing calendar, and the lively community is one of Writer's Digest's 101 Best Websites for Writers. Join me for info, workshops, challenges & courses, and of course, the StoryAWeek newsletter.
I always thought that an artist’s was the hardest life of all. Its rigor—not always apparent to an outside observer—is that an artist has to navigate forward into the unknown guided only by an internal sense of direction, keep up a set of standards which are imposed entirely from within, meanwhile maintaining faith that the task he has set himself to is worth struggling constantly to achieve. This is all contrary to the notion of bohemian disorder.” Lucian Freud (via Austin Kleon) If you’ve...
On the US Coast Guard’s website, there’s a whole page dedicated to why and when to wear your life jacket. tl;dr: always wear a life jacket if you are on or around water. read this article online I think our writing is exactly like that life-jacket: something not to be ignored and neglected because when we need it, we NEED it. How does a life jacket help? By providing buoyancy if you unexpectedly find yourself in the water. By providing buoyancy if you purposely jump into the water to save...
“Any rejections to celebrate, this month?” I was at my first ever in-real-life writers’ group, and the organizer started the meeting by handing a microphone around the room, and asking people to celebrate what they’d achieved in their writing life, since they last met. Celebrate rejections? What kind of group is this?!, I thought, sure I was in the wrong place. It was the one of many ways I’ve had my expectations upended, on this writing journey. The longer I’ve stayed in the writing...