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inspiration

A Novel in 10 Years: One Author’s Journey To Get It Done

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Novel in Ten Years

I had just attended my 30th high school reunion and come to the realization that my life was slipping away. Here I was, almost 50, and I still hadn’t accomplished my life’s dream. “I will write a novel before the next reunion,” I told myself. I just needed an idea. I’d spent decades as a newspaper reporter and doing PR professional writing about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. I should have been brimming with ideas, but nothing had grabbed me. I stole a weekend to be alone with my laptop at the family beach house on Guemes Island. I got to the ferry dock in Anacortes but missed the boat. The muse works in mysterious ways. I passed a lovingly…

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Bruce Springsteen, Carrie Fisher, Reality Stars and More:  50+ Memoir Deals for Under $16 

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Are you interested in reading about how some of your favorite actors and musicians became famous? Or maybe you want to know what it’s like to grow up in the White House. Whatever your interest, there is definitely a personal story here that will not only be worth your dollar, they may even inspire you to write your own! Here’s a great list of over 50 memoirs for Kindle, all under $16 (and some are even free)!   Famous Icons Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen Becoming Grandma, Lesley Stahl Turning the Tables, Teresa Giudice The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher The Heroin Diaries, Nikki Sixx Unqualified, Anna Faris Growing Up Fisher, Joely Fisher Whoa, Baby!, Kelly Rowland We’re Going to Need…

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Tess Gerritsen Talks Return of Beloved Rizzoli and Isles with ‘I Know a Secret’

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One of the most interesting and sometimes-complicated aspects of a writer’s life is the inspiration that they use for their breakthrough novels. Tess Gerritsen recently shared with us the inspiration behind her latest release in the beloved TNT Rizzoli and Isles series, I Know a Secret. Here’s the story behind her inspiration in her own words: As happens with most of my books, the plot of I Know a Secret is a fusion of two different ideas. This is often how I come up with my stories, by melding together two or more premises into one. My 2010 thriller Ice Cold, for instance, was inspired by two different news articles, one about a U.S. military nerve gas accident in the…

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#Thursday Thoughts: 39 Inspirational JFK Quotes, One for Each Year He Lived

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Today, the National Archives will release the final documents that outline details of the the John F. Kennedy assassination. In 1963, the 35th President of the United States was gunned down while his motorcade traveled through a Dallas neighbor hood on November 22.  In the years since, many conspiracy theories as to how the assassination happened and who was involved have been the focus of Kennedy’s legacy.  As interesting as these are, the life Kennedy lived is far for fascinating and inspiring.  Today’s #ThursdayThoughts are 39 inspirational JFK quotes about life, leadership, education and poetry— one for each year of his life. Hopefully, they will inspire you as much as Kennedy inspired an entire nation and the world. Change is…

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#WednesdayWisdom for Writers from Some of the Most Prolific Writers of All Time

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People always ask me what my writing “process” is. If they knew, they wouldn’t believe me, most times it involves just sitting alone and listening to my own thoughts. Rrely does it ever involve me sitting in front of a blank screen on my computer; if I’m typing, it is already written, I am just transcribing the pages in my head. About 90 percent of what I write has been written in my dreams and that is because I spend about 90 percent of my time thinking about writing. My inspiration comes from a variety of sources, most are just random occurrences and rather than keeping my thoughts and opinions about these to myself, I share them with you. Writing…

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Julie C. Dao: ‘Women I Write Should Never, Ever Be Underestimated’

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BookTrib is partnering with Bookish to bring you more great content.  Bookshelf, bookshelf, on the wall. What is the most anticipated fall release of all? To be fair, there are quite a few. But Julie C. Dao’s Forest of a Thousand Lanterns has been at the top of our list for a while. It’s a dark fairy tale retelling that reimagines the Evil Queen from “Snow White” rising to power in a world inspired by Imperial China. To celebrate the book’s release, we chatted with Dao about writing a villain, the power of beauty, and why you should never, ever underestimate any of her female characters. Bookish: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns is a retelling/origin story for the Evil Queen from “Snow White.” Which…

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DIY MFA Radio Episode 118: Don’t Quit Your Day Job — Interview with Todd Harra

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In this episode, Gabriela Pereira interviews author Todd Harra about his day job as an undertaker, and how his work has informed and inspired his writing. Listen in to hear how you don’t need to quit your day job and still build a career as a writer. In fact, that day job might be part of what fuels your writing and makes it unique.

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Inspirational Presentations: Celebrating 10 Years of TED Talks with a Reading List!

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On June 27, 2006, the first six TED videos were posted to TED.com. Ten years of great ideas, inspirational talks and mind-bending presentations are definitely worth celebrating. In the spirit of celebrating, here’s a reading list from some of our favorite TED speakers! Think of it as recommended reading for your every element of your various TED Talk bingeing. For Life Advice: Find a Way, Diana Nyad (Knopf, 2015) One of the best things about TED Talks is their ability to inspire. One of the most inspirational trailblazers to ever take the TED stage is Diana Nyad, the long-distance swimmer who finally achieved her goal, a 100 mile swim from Cuba to Florida, at the age of 64. Her startling story…

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Visual Thinking: Temple Grandin’s TED Talk and a Book List to Give You Perspective

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April is National Autism Awareness Month, and it’s worth it to take a minute to celebrate the innumerable ways people are unique. Animal behavior pioneer Temple Grandin has been an Autism advocate and activist for years, and in her talk from TED2010, she shares her distinctive outlook on the world. She breaks down the main ways people on the “continuum” of Autism can develop as thinkers, and expands on her own experience as a visual thinker. For Grandin, her visual thinking allowed her insights into detail-oriented problem solving that the people around her missed – and in this talk, she makes it clear that young people today on the Autism spectrum have just as much potential as she did. In…

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Video: Missed It? Live Interview with Kathryn Budig and Aim True

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Are You Ready to Discover What Aim True Means to You? Yoga teacher and inspirational speaker Kathryn Budig is known for her ability to encourage others to set their intentions and goals, no matter how lofty, and work toward them while staying true to themselves. In Aim True, Budig extends her empowering message beyond the mat. Life is an adventure that is meant to be explored, challenged, and fully lived. The best part? When you approach life with an open mind and heart, the possibilities are endless. Allow Budig to be your guide along the journey with: • A 5-day purification process • 6 yoga sequences to put into practice • Over 85 recipes to seduce your inner Top Chef…

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Curb Procrastination: Tim Urban’s TED Talk Inspires a Motivational Book List

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Procrastination plagues the best of us. In this TED talk from TED 2016 in February, Wait But Why blogger and sorta-kinda professional procrastinator Tim Urban takes us inside the minds of serial procrastinators. He breaks down three distinct voices in our brains related to procrastination: the “rational decision-maker,” the “instant gratification monkey,” and the all-powerful “panic monster” that leaps into action as soon as a catastrophic deadline creeps up on us. However, what starts out as a comical breakdown of what’s perceived as a goofy, bad habit becomes an examination of what happens when we procrastinate the big-picture life stuff that doesn’t have deadlines, like reconnecting with family, working on relationships or getting fit. Urban pushes viewers to tackle those challenges without…

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TED Talks: How Does Theaster Gates Revitalize Crumbling Neighborhoods?

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How to you rebuild a crumbling neighborhood? For Theaster Gates, the answer can be found in art and community building. Gates, who is a potter by trade and a social activist artist by vocation, discusses his inspiring method for reviving his Chicago neighborhood in this talk from TED2015. By teaming up with community members and rebuilding old and abandoned buildings into artistic hubs, like museums and movie theaters, Gates discovered his neighborhood changing for the better. This passionate talk shows that using what you’ve got to create culture and beauty can be an amazing catalyst for social change. Recommended reading: Theaster Gates (Contemporary Artists), Carol Becker, Achim Borchardt-Hume and Lisa Yun Lee (Phaidon Press, October 2015) This is the first…

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TED Talks: Oscar Schwartz’s Computer Can Write Poetry

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It seems like a silly question: Can a computer write poetry? But then, after writing a poem, will that computer then take over the world? Oscar Schwartz is less concerned with the speculative danger surrounding artificial intelligence – instead, he’s using algorithms to help us figure out what it means to be human. In this intriguing talk from [email protected] from May 2015, Schwartz (who by the way is hilarious on Twitter) discusses his Bot or Not project. The project was started as a website he and his colleague Benjamin Laird created that tests users by having them guess whether or not a poem was written by a human or a computer algorithm. Running these tests, he’s encountered some unique results, and some…

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TED Talks: Bryan Stevenson on Identity and Injustice

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Black History Month ends in just a few days, so this week’s installment of TED Talks Tuesday is one of the most elegant examinations of race in America ever given on the TED stage. Human Rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson’s moving talk from TED 2012 paints a hard picture of America’s criminal justice framework – but he does more than illustrate the obvious problems with our current system. Stevenson urges people to become more aware of what he calls “the dark and difficult things” in today’s society, and argues that history judges societies by how they treat their most disenfranchised populations. It goes beyond the political, and moves into the realms of morality and cultural self-awareness with a grace, courage and…

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Spartan Up! Outside Magazine’s Mike Roberts Shares Lessons from World-Renowned Athletes

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Having access to some of the most successful athletes in the world is a perk of the job for Mike Roberts, editor for Outside Magazine. But for Roberts, the best part is not only getting the chance to understand and examine how these athletes have pushed past injuries and setbacks, but also listening to them talk about their experiences and the knowledge they’ve gained about their sport over the years. Here Roberts tells Spartan Up’s Joe De Sena, founder and CEO of Spartan Race, the lessons he’s taken away from talking to the world’s top outdoor athletes. For more, watch the Podcast above. ABOUT SPARTAN UP! THE PODCAST: Every day, Joe De Sena, founder and CEO of Spartan Race and a New York Times…

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