Top Highlights

• Writing is a discipline, and it is also a way to love the world full-time.
• To turn fragments of writing into a cohesive essay or story, use bouquet logic. Broad strokes first, then place the scenes that “pop” and make up the major plot, and finally fill in the rest with the words of your choice.
• Choose one time-waster that is not strictly necessary and summon the discipline to remove it. Fill the time with specific writing tasks instead.
• Find one line in a piece of your writing that evokes something in you, but that lacks the power it might have. Reword it several times, like re-stringing a beaded necklace, by trying different words at the end. See if its power surges.
• Set one of your pleasures as a reward for meeting a creative goal, such as revising a poem, sending work out, or writing for several days in a row.