My writing practice is not just about putting words on the page. In order for me to be a creative person, I have discovered that my daily writing practice has to involve the following things: Writing my morning pages Writing a minimum of 100 words on my current project Reading at least 25 pages of a novel Going for a walk One of those things is not like the other -- or is it? My morning pages help me organize my brain, and shake the dust out. My writing minimum ensures I make

I do a lot of my best work looking like this: That's how I look first thing in the morning, on my way up the stairs for my first cup of coffee.    I take that cup of coffee straight to my desk, grab my master notebook out of my house purse , and write my morning pages, every single day. And yes, really, when I'm half awake, that's where the sausage gets made.   Let's unpack this a little bit.    Morning pages are a practice promoted by Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way .  The

I am very lucky to have a home office that I love -- but I also have four kids and a husband who constantly knocks at the door and a very busy run around schedule and sometimes the "butt in seat" recurring task list to get my writing done doesn't happen in the afore-mentioned seat. And I'm here to tell you, when you have to get those words on the page, you have to do that, anywhere and everywhere you are. Carry your notebook everywhere, and/or liberally deploy the notes app o

January 2026 January 2025 Recently I posted a photo of my current TBR stack, which lives perilously close to my bed in earthquake country, on Instagram, and realized it looked very much like my TBR stack from the previous year. Some of the top piles had changed, but those books on the bottom are just waiting and waiting and waiting for me give them some attention. I feel a little guilty about that. I feel bad that I constantly bring in new work instead of committing to what I

Welcome to the Make Something Every Day blog, where I intend to talk about creativity, process, books I love, writers I adore -- you get the picture.