Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo
    Unavailable
    Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo
    Unavailable
    Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo
    Ebook324 pages4 hours

    Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo

    By Grant Faulkner

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Every writer knows that as rewarding as the creative process is, it can often be a bumpy road. Have hope and keep at it! Designed to kick-start creativity, this handbook from the executive director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) gathers a wide range of insights and advice for writers at any stage of their career. From tips about how to finally start that story to helpful ideas about what to do when the words just aren't quite coming out right, Pep Talks for Writers provides motivation, encouragement, and helpful exercises for writers of all stripes.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChronicle Books Digital
    Release dateOct 3, 2017
    ISBN9781452161716
    Unavailable
    Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo
    Author

    Grant Faulkner

    Grant Faulkner is the executive director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the cofounder of 100 Word Story. His work has been widely anthologized in flash-fiction collections, and he is the author of several books, including All the Comfort Sin Can Provide, Fissures, and Nothing Short of 100: Selected Tales from 100 Word Story.

    Related to Pep Talks for Writers

    Related ebooks

    Composition & Creative Writing For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Year Ahead

      Nov 13, 2021

      The Year Ahead
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Snapshot Theory

      Feb 27, 2021

      The Snapshot Theory
      6 min read

    • Article

      Rethinking The Rules

      Oct 16, 2021

      Recently, I read about librarian Nancy Pearl’s “Rule of 50,” designed to help busy book lovers recognize when it’s time to give up on a book. Pearl’s rule is simple: If a reader reaches page 50 and they still aren’t enjoying the book, that person sho

      2 min read

    • Article

      Character INTER-LANDS

      Feb 27, 2021

      Character INTER-LANDS
      5 min read

    • Article

      Build On Your Strengths

      Aug 14, 2021

      Build On Your Strengths
      5 min read

    • Article

      Dear Editor

      Feb 27, 2021

      Dear Editor
      3 min read

    • Article

      12 Foolproof Ways To Fail As A Writer

      Dec 21, 2021

      Whether you’re just now launching into writing or you’re an old pro, here are 12 surefire ways to fail this year as you pursue your dreams within the writing world. You’ll be tempted to compare other authors’ sales figures, reviews, likes, comments,

      4 min read

    • Article

      Making Conversation

      Sep 11, 2021

      What’s a story or novel without scenes? Scenes involve us directly in characters’ lives and, when handled adeptly, provide dramatic intensity. If the prose writing is stellar, we will certainly be hooked by expository sections that dive deeply into a

      12 min read

    • Article

      DIY Mfa

      Mar 26, 2022

      DIY Mfa
      3 min read

    • Article

      How To Write A Bestseller

      Oct 5, 2018

      I have a friend—call him Tom—who, like me, is a writer. Tom has written many novels over a long and enviable publishing career, and his novel-writing philosophy, related to me over various drinks at various bars, can be summarized as follows: Write w

      6 min read

    • Article

      This Month On Writermag.com

      Feb 27, 2021

      This Month On Writermag.com
      1 min read

    • Article

      Imagination AND YOU

      Oct 5, 2023

      Having built the foundations of our writing approach over the previous several issues, I fully intended this month to begin looking at the nuts and bolts of creative writing – structure, dialogue, description, etc. But as I began to write, something

      6 min read

    • Article

      Shelf Life

      Apr 6, 2023

      Shelf Life
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Bookish Types

      Jun 6, 2021

      The Bookish Types
      9 min read

    • Article

      Why Write Fiction in 2017?

      Dec 12, 2017

      Why Write Fiction in 2017?
      7 min read

    • Article

      Take A Chance

      Aug 6, 2020

      Take A Chance
      3 min read

    • Article

      THE WD INTERVIEW Dani Shapiro

      Oct 30, 2019

      THE WD INTERVIEW Dani Shapiro
      11 min read

    • Article

      Mud Month

      Dec 12, 2019

      Mud Month
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Truthteller’s Toolkit

      Apr 25, 2020

      Once upon a time, a writer might contact an agent and confess their desire to publish an essay collection. And once upon a time, an agent might have resisted an urge to laugh in the writer’s face. As a form, essays had fallen out of favor, hard, and

      8 min read

    • Article

      Show up FOR YO U R WRITING

      Jun 1, 2023

      Show up FOR YO U R WRITING
      3 min read

    • Article

      Starting Over Is What’s Hard: The Millions Interviews Mary Laura Philpott

      May 15, 2019

      It’s frighteningly easy to settle into being someone you don’t want to be, because that settling can happen so gradually. The post Starting Over Is What’s Hard: The Millions Interviews Mary Laura Philpott appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Jenny Bhatt

      Dec 14, 2020

      For 2020, given what I had imagined the year would entail, my word-of-the-year choice had been “renewal.” The post A Year in Reading: Jenny Bhatt appeared first on The Millions.

      8 min read

    Reviews for Pep Talks for Writers

    3.5/5

    2 ratings9 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      At some point, all writers and want to be writers hit a roadblock and production slowly stops. This book has fifty-two ways to jump start stimulation and break through the dam to let the words flow. Each thought had an anecdote, common sense suggestion, and practice exercise. Although the Table of Contents headings are very descriptive, subject index is included.I received this book through a LibraryThing giveaway. Although encouraged, I was under no obligation to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
    • 3/5
      The book is well designed and laid out with each of the 52 "Pep Talks" of just a few pages each accompanying an associated tip to get you inspired and writing. The choice of 52 tips is I'm sure deliberate to make the book a once-a-week habit to dip into. Overall the tips are useful and in most cases common sense, but there wasn't anything here that I haven't seen in numerous other writers guide type lists.
    • 4/5
      When one thinks of a pep talk a didactic three hour seminar or an intense workshop that goes on for days usually does not come to mind. Instead one thinks of an arm-around-the-shoulder delivery of friendly words of encouragement. Cheer leading in the form of an overly optimistic You-Can-Do-It! attitude. That is exactly what you will get with Pep Talk for Writers by Grant Faulkner. 52 pep talks with a little infomercial about the National Novel Writing Month built in for good measure (more on that later). Faulkner's advice giving approach is friendly, unassuming, and at times even comical. All he really wants to do is unblock your creativity and get you back to writing something... anything. This is the type of book you can buzz through quickly the first time around and then return to for slower savoring when you have more time..like when you are really truly stuck. Faulkner even designs his book that way. In the back lists the problems you might be having and the pages to flip to for a possible resolution. There is no heavy scrutiny of writing technique, no prose bogged down with researched factoids. The advice is simple, bordering on common sense. About that infomercial: Faulkner does mention the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) of which he is the Executive Director many, many times. So much so that I was surprised he didn't include information regarding how to get involved with NaNoWriMo next November.
    • 3/5
      Realize that this book's title is slightly misleading in that it is intended "for Writers" when it should have read "for Novel Writers". Since I am a family history writer (genealogical research) I found a few of the early chapters completely unsuitable for me. The author, Grant Faulkner, sponsors a National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) where participants "take on the Herculean task of writing a novel of 50,000 words in just 30 days". I don't know whether this task has ever produced a Nobel Prize winner or even a best seller but I have my doubts.Some current research has shown that such an unrealistic goal can actually produce a negative effect. From the ScienceDaily article "Study Says Achieving Fame, Wealth And Beauty Are Psychological Dead Ends" (19 May 2009) the study's lead author Christopher Niemiec said "[our research] shows that reaching materialistic and image-related milestones actually contributes to ill-being; despite their accomplishments, individuals experience more negative emotions like shame and anger and more physical symptoms of anxiety such as headaches, stomachaches, and loss of energy".Faulkner says in his introduction that "The important thing is to keep your creative life at the forefront of your thoughts and actions". Good advice unless you are forcing yourself to be creative which is the same thing as trying to find happiness: You'll never get there. Then he goes on and contradicts the very essence of NaNoWriMo by saying such things as "There's no such thing as the way to create good work; you just have to find your way". Indeed, but you will never find your way if you have set a goal of x words per time period. He says take a walk in a dark forest. Yes! That's the way to get the creative juices flowing. He says "don't become too rigid". Absolutely!In Chapter 5, Make your Creativity into a Routine, he says "If there's a single defining trait among most successful writers, it's that they all show up to write regularly". That's fine but thankfully he's shifted the emphasis away from a specific goal (number of words) to the method (write regularly). There's a difference.In an essay by James Clear entitled "Forget about Setting Goals, Focus on This Instead" he emphasizes that instead of setting goals, focus on your system ("plan" to Faulkner). Clear makes three cogent points about goals: 1. Goals reduce your current happiness 2. Goals are strangely at odds with long-term progress 3. Goals suggest that you can control things that you have no control overIt was an eye-opener for me when I read his essay. Shortly after that I made a New Year's resolution to get up two hours earlier and use those hours to write. It's been a little over a year now and I say that I have made more progress in one year than in the preceding five years. Then, in Chapter 6, "Goal + Deadline--Magic" Faulkner goes right back to his contest: He says, "Make a goal, set a deadline, and devise a plan of accountability". Ha! It looks like long walks in dark forests don't quite fit in with this rigidity. Setting a deadline is for journalists. For writers of fiction or non-fiction it is a recipe for severe depression. "Pin a piece of paper with your goals over your writing desk", he says. That would be a paper of death for me. At the end of day two I was going to write 500 words, I count them and I have only 464 words...Vodka, it's me.In the next chapter he advocates "a time management method that breaks down work into intervals separated by short breaks...set a timer for 15-30 minutes and push yourself". Yeah, push myself to the brink of insanity. Vodka AND Prozac here I come.Despite the goal-setting madness of the first few chapters, Faulkner does abandon the rigidity of it all and comes through with some really good advice as one moves forward in the book. Page 50: [For fiction writers] "...I sometimes mine my memory for the odd characters who have passed through my life...and have them write a letter to me". Page 54: Meet with like-minded writers. In Chapter 12, seek out feedback. Amen, this is absolutely necessary. Writing in isolation may have worked for some but for most of us, productive criticism will get us out of a rut.For all writers, "make it a goal to notice one arresting detail each day and write it down"; great advice. "Get messy", he says; disorderliness is the mark of a creative mind, tidiness the mark of a conventional mind. Well, hmmmm. I really feel things are out of control if the mess lasts too long. I have to take time out to straighten up my office every once in a while.What's this? "Dress like the author you want to be". Hmmm, where's my beret? Seriously, folks, genealogists are pretty drab dressers. I'm sloppy right now and I like it that way. Some terrific advice for the genealogist: "It's time to go on a story field trip--an imaginative scavenger hunt to gather details, sensory information, and character insights". Oh, this is applicable to all writers. I can hardly wait to travel to a place where my ancestors once walked (such as Hertfordshire England or Hessen-Kassel in Germany). After doing this for several years I can say it is one of the best pieces of advice anyone could give to writers.Another good chapter is 34, "Sleep, Sleeplessness, and Creativity". I've studied dreaming quite a bit and his advice to tell yourself you wish to dream about a problem or subject DOES WORK. William Burroughs said he estimated about 60% of the subject matter of his weird (but wonderful) fiction came from dreams. This applies to non-fiction writers as well as I have many times worked out a problem with conflicting dates and so on by waking up with the thought: Well, that was really not much of a problem at all, put an "about" before the date--problem solved.In Ch 42 "The Art of Melancholy" he says "melancholy summons us to be creative" therefore revel in it. I'm not sure about that. Isn't melancholy the thought that you were going to write 1000 words a day for a month and only got 15,000?To sum up, skip the first seven or eight chapters of Pep Talks that want you to put yourself into a box then be prepared for some of the best advice for writers of all stripes.
    • 4/5
      As most writers will tell you, writing can be a challenging undertaking. Distractions and roadblocks abound. Additionally, it can sometimes feel like your words are going into a void where they might not be read or even seen by another person. Fortunately, author Grant Faulkner, the executive director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), offers some welcome advice in “Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo.” As per the title, the book contains advice followed by brief two-to-four-page explanations and a “Try this” action item for the reader to do to accomplish this goal.The suggestions Faulkner includes range from the practical, such as “An Artistic Apprenticeship” and “Take a Story Field Trip,” to the more whimsical (e.g., “Cavort… Wander… Play” and “You Are What You Wear”). The book’s setup, which includes a very helpful section that classifies the different tips into bigger categories like “Getting the Writing Done,” lends itself well to reading sections as needed or perhaps reading a section each week. The flip side to this is that the segmentation could be somewhat distracting when reading the book cover-to-cover as I did for this review, but readers looking for lots of advice on approaching and keeping up with creative writing might not have this problem.Although the book centers on the creative writing process, a lot of the advice applies to other types of writing as well life in general. I’m not a creative writer by any stretch of the imagination, but I found the pithy and thoughtful recommendations pertinent to what I do. That said, given the focus on creative writing (and creativity in general), I have no doubt that those who take part in creative pursuits will find this especially helpful and encouraging.
    • 4/5
      We writers want so much to write, and yet many of us have great difficulty in actually writing. That’s what these pep talks are designed for. Grant Faulkner, the executive director of National Novel Writing Month, is an expert on inspiring writers to write, and to write quickly, and to write well. In this book, Faulkner shares fifty-two insights and actions to jolt a writer’s creativity. Some that I loved (and plan to use next year) are:*building a creative community*cavorting...wandering...playing*using your life in your story*trusting in the absurd*using the secrets of improv in your writingAnd, probably most importantly, *logging in the hours.This is a book I want to keep and reread a month into the year when my writing mojo starts flagging. Thank you, Grant Faulkner, for this book.
    • 4/5
      Inspired to read this due to NaNoWriMo starting this month. Definitely has some great ideas to use to make you a better writer.
    • 3/5
      This guide from one of the director's of NaNoWriMo contains 52 sessions for fiction writers to enhance their creativity. These exercises would be most useful for someone who is stuck and needs a little inspiration to get through their writer's block. This little actions include creative dreaming, going for a walk/fieldtrip, writing down observations, and thinking about what you are wearing while you write. I think I will don my glamorous spy outfit and see what happens.
    • 5/5
      I received this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.Where was this book 10 years ago when I was starting out?! The good news is that it exists now, and people are still in desperate need of its perspective. Written by Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of NaNoWriMo, this book is the perfect stepping stone for writers who thrive on NaNo and want to stay motivated to keep writing the other 11 months of the year (NaNoWriMo, in case you don't know, takes place each November, as writers worldwide bond as they fight to complete 50,000 words of book in a thirty day span.) but I'd argue that it's good for authors at all levels. I mean, heck. I'm an author with Harper Voyager with 4 novels out. I know impostor syndrome, depression, crippling doubt. Those difficulties have evolved over time; they don't go away. This book still spoke to me in a profound way.The book is organized like a devotional. Its 52 pep talks are only about 2-4 pages each, easy to read in a few minutes, with each one capped off with a 'Try This' task designed to inspire writing and/or the writer to look at things a different way. It'd be easy to read this book, solo or in a writing group, over one year--or to read it as I did, in a matter of days. I loved the book even more when I reached the end and found a "Where Do You Need Help?" special index organized by topics like Starting a New Project, Feeling Stuck, and Nourishing Your Muse.

      1 person found this helpful