Ask the Author: Melanie Figg
Answered Questions (2)
Melanie Figg
Sometimes it's really hard to write, especially when I'm not working on a big project. I work with writer's block with a lot of my coaching clients, so I have lots of great ideas, tricks, tips, and slightly-veiled threats ;-) in my pocket. But in the end, it's about just showing up at the desk, regularly, with a clear head. That can be harder than it sounds.
Being a coach and working with so many writers who struggle with writer's block (which is a catch-all for lots of suffering, really, from procrastination to perfectionism, and more) really helps me with my own writer's block.
Being a coach and working with so many writers who struggle with writer's block (which is a catch-all for lots of suffering, really, from procrastination to perfectionism, and more) really helps me with my own writer's block.
Melanie Figg
Keep going. Be the biggest fan of your work. Stay committed to sharing your work with others. If you need to take a break, OK - but get back at it once you get your head clear.
I'd given up writing. Trace had been a finalist for a handful of big first book prizes, and a semi-finalist for a bucketful more. I'd spent over a decade trying to publish my manuscript, in so many versions, with no luck. But I was also a fierce mama bear about my poems and I didn't want to self-publish. I told myself I would give it one more go. Soon after, I saw the deadline for the National Endowment for the Arts was coming up, and I scrambled to fit the eligibility, and applied. The week I found out I had won the NEA was the same week I got the call from New Rivers Press telling me Trace had won the Many Voices Project. When it pours poetry, that is a damn good day.
I'd given up writing. Trace had been a finalist for a handful of big first book prizes, and a semi-finalist for a bucketful more. I'd spent over a decade trying to publish my manuscript, in so many versions, with no luck. But I was also a fierce mama bear about my poems and I didn't want to self-publish. I told myself I would give it one more go. Soon after, I saw the deadline for the National Endowment for the Arts was coming up, and I scrambled to fit the eligibility, and applied. The week I found out I had won the NEA was the same week I got the call from New Rivers Press telling me Trace had won the Many Voices Project. When it pours poetry, that is a damn good day.
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