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It's probably true, as they say, that every story has already been told... and retold... and retold. Like the people in marketing say, though, it's all about spin. And you could do worse than to re-spin some of the classics. I'm not talking Shakespeare: he's a little cliché by now. No: I'm going further back, to the fertile ground of Greek and Roman mythology. If you want stories with passion, humor, love and death, look no further. I'll just take one example to whet your appetite: one version of the Minotaur story goes like this...

It's probably true, as they say, that every story has already been told... and retold... and retold. Like the people in marketing say, though, it's all about spin. And you could do worse than to re-spin some of the classics. I'm not talking Shakespeare: he's a little cliché by now. No: I'm going further back, to the fertile ground of Greek and Roman mythology. If you want stories with passion, humor, love and death, look no further. I'll just take one example to whet your appetite: one version of the Minotaur story goes like this...

It's probably true, as they say, that every story has already been told... and retold... and retold. Like the people in marketing say, though, it's all about spin. And you could do worse than to re-spin some of the classics. I'm not talking Shakespeare: he's a little cliché by now. No: I'm going further back, to the fertile ground of Greek and Roman mythology. If you want stories with passion, humor, love and death, look no further. I'll just take one example to whet your appetite: one version of the Minotaur story goes like this...

Here’s what happened. My mother was American, but my father was French and I grew up living in France. My mother was, however, a voracious reader, about 98% of which was in English, and we always had English-language books around the house. She also had two subscriptions: Time Magazine and Reader’s Digest, and they constituted the principle reading in the various bathrooms in our house. Make of that what you will.

What is considered “political” when we’re writing fiction? Are we just talking about works dealing with topics like war, oppression, instability, or injustice? Or is it also anything regarding social identity and issues—like race, gender, and economic class?

There may be things in your world that are stormy or sullen, but you can break through them and discover another world. And the rest disappears. The thoughts about checking your email or what time it is or all the myriad things that are interruptions…. They disappear. You are in a new world. You are in a different kind of consciousness.

Vision is our primary sense, and 70% of our sensory receptors in the body are in the eyes. So it’s no wonder that what we see can dramatically affect us and our emotions. The Greeks considered ekphrasis important for developing written and perceptual skills, and contemporary writers have adopted the technique to improve their writing.

It’s really easy for creative people to self-sabotage. We work in isolation, which can sometimes lead to discouragement. But there’s hope! Meditation creates an inner sanctuary where you can protect your best writing self from your worst writing self.

Our writing practices are filled with moments of jubilation—and of dark despair. We don’t succeed where we thought we would. We are disappointed—in how to world deals with our writing, and in how we ourselves sometimes feel about it. But despair, while part of the writing life, doesn’t have to dominate it. Here’s how!

Just as you can’t be madly in love all the time, you also don’t always feel inspired to write. In this podcast, Jeannette helps writers kickstart their imaginations and find the inspiration that provides the greatest “rush” of all by identifying what works for their particular practice.

We’ve all experienced it to some extent, and it’s cost us all hours of fatigue, distress, and even despair. Writer’s burnout is a state of exhaustion that manifests as making you physically, mentally, and emotionally incapable of doing the most basic of writing tasks well. It’s caused by trying to do too much to the point of becoming overwhelmed. In this podcast, Jeannette helps you identify the causes of burnout, avoid it before it happens, and deal with it once it attacks.

Jeannette discusses what makes a writer, how language evolves, removing "should" from your vocabulary, and why you should read... a lot!

How the mystery genre changed from Sherlock Holmes to Father Brown

This week, the Writing Muse talks about being inspired by a tradition that's meaningful to you. Who are your mentors? What are your areas of inspiration? What can the voices of others—dead and alive—tell you to inform your own writing practice?

Much of being creative is mysterious. In fact, creativity is in a sense a mystery religion! And humans by their nature want everything to be clear and understandable. But touching our innermost creativity means not just connecting with mystery, but also settling into it. Links: https://www.jeannettedebeauvoir.com/blog https://www.amazon.com/Jeannette-de-Beauvoir/e/B00JC3FHK4 https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13994761.Jeannette_de_Beauvoir https://www.facebook.com/JeannettedeBeauvoir/

Let’s start big. Leave off everything that’s sensible and practical and for just one moment, let you heart take wing. What is your dream vision for your writing practice? Take some time—an hour, a day—and just let your imagination run wild. We’re not looking at plans or goals, and we’re not even looking at 2021. What is your dream for your writing for the next five to 10 years? Before you set an annual goal for 2021, you need to get clear on where you see your writing practice headed in the future. Links: https://www.jeannettedebeauvoir.com/blog https://www.amazon.com/Jeannette-de-Beauvoir/e/B00JC3FHK4 https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13994761.Jeannette_de_Beauvoir https://www.facebook.com/JeannettedeBeauvoir/

Every life, Tranströmer writes, “has a sister ship,” one that follows “quite another route” than the one we ended up taking. We want it to be otherwise, but it cannot be: the people we might have been live a different, phantom life than the people we are. I think it’s some of these unchosen lives that drives me to write. To explore what I haven’t in real life had the time, or the opportunity, or the inclination, or the money to explore. To play with options and possibilities. Links: https://www.jeannettedebeauvoir.com/blog https://www.amazon.com/Jeannette-de-Beauvoir/e/B00JC3FHK4 https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13994761.Jeannette_de_Beauvoir https://www.facebook.com/JeannettedeBeauvoir/