Category: Writing

The Writer’s Workshop Live & Small-Group Writing Circle

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

September 13th, 2017 — November 15th, 2017

This Fall, for the first time in three years, I’m teaching a live (still digital, but live via the Internet) gathering of The Writer’s Workshop. We’ll come together for eight weeks to practice writing and work through four key modules. The power of a writing group and live calls are designed to help you become better at writing, storytelling, and crafting content. And as a bonus: you’ll be assigned working groups to meet other writing friends in small, peer-to-peer writing circles.

The LIVE course also includes a writing circles, live discussion calls, and if you choose (see options below), an opportunity for 1:1 feedback on your writing and essays.

**Early decision closes August 18th, 2017.**
**Regular registration closes September 8th, 2017.**
Class begins September 13th, 2017.

Four writing modules, eight writing assignments:

We’ll work together through eight weeks of writing exercises, two assignments per module. Every week, you’ll get a lesson to read, an assignment to practice, and a bundle of extra resources to dive deeper on the topic of the week. The goal is to write one new assignment each week.

These are the four core modules:

  • Imagination: Unlock your creative potential through key exercises in visualization, imagination, and association. Learn how to get un-stuck, how to start writing, and how to tap into your inner creative. (2 lessons, 2 writing exercises.)
  • Storytelling: Learn three frameworks for great storytelling from the experts–from Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey to Nancy Duartes’ structures on resonance. Learn how to use each of these frameworks to create messaging that’s relatable, sticky, and moving.(2 lessons, 2 writing exercises.)
  • Craft & Content: Learn how to create story frameworks for blogging, how to write a standout introduction (and thank-you note!), and the art of asking for what you want. Get four customizable templates for everyday communication–never have to build an email from scratch again. (2 lessons, 2 writing exercises.)
  • Language: Learn how to use language to persuade, influence, and inspire others. (2 lessons, 2 writing exercises.)

After each module, we’ll meet for a live call (4 total):

After each module, we’ll come together for a live Q/A discussion call to talk about our writing progress, reflect on the assignments, share our work, and answer any questions you might have. The calls will be recorded and available for the duration of the course.

  • Live Call #1: Friday, September 29th at 1PM Eastern
  • Live Call #1: Friday, October 13th at 1PM Eastern
  • Live Call #1: Friday, October 27th at 1PM Eastern
  • Live Call #1: Friday, November 10th at 1PM Eastern

Small group writing circles:

You will be placed in a small group writing circle during the course, to meet and go deeper with fellow writers. I’ll guide you in the best practices for how to engage with your small group, when to meet, and the format to follow in your small group.

Each module, for example, you’ll read an excerpt of your piece out loud to the group.

Suggested times for the small group writing circle: Every other Friday, at 1PM (so that you block off eight continuous Fridays at 1PM for your writing group, alternating live calls with small-group sessions). Of course, you can re-schedule these with your group as needed.

The Writer’s Workshop Live! — $599

This small-group virtual/digital writing group will be capped at 30 people. Regular registration closes September 8th, 2017. Limited spaces available.

Early Decision: Register by August 18th for $100 off the program price — $499. Click here to register.

The Writer’s Workshop Live PLUS 1:1 Coaching — $999

Want to go deeper with your writing practice? Register for the Live Writer’s Workshop with personalized writing coaching—and get additional coaching and feedback on your writing. In addition to the live course, live calls, and small-group writing circle, you’ll also get:

  • Two (2) 1:1 coaching calls with Sarah to chat about your writing practice, and
  • Personalized writing feedback on two (2) of your essays during the eight-week course.
  • Only 6 spaces available.

Early Decision: Register by August 18th for $100 off the program price — $899. Click here to register.

A Look Inside My Writing Habits

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

Are you optimizing your writing habits?

We have a limited amount of attention, bandwidth, and energy. There are only so many “hacks” we can take before it’s going to become ever more important to cull the flow of information and set up systems that let us optimize for our strengths and internal design.

My writing and publishing is best done on a system that allows me to have some freedom, but within a structure. When I have a structure that I no longer have to think about when or why I’m writing, I’m then free to write without spending time wondering when I’ll actually do the writing.

What is a writing frame?

Frames are incredible important for both my own practice as well as for connecting to other people. A writing frame is a pattern or schedule that you stick to in your habit or practice. Some examples of writing frames are: publishing a new blog post every Monday at 10am, writing a monthly newsletter on the first of every month, or writing every weekday at 7am.

Podcasts, television shows, and great newsletters use these schedules to stay consistent. They also use them to communicate to the subscriber, reader, or viewer (you) when new content will arrive.

Think about the newsletters that you read. Do you appreciate ones that are regular and consistent? If it’s something you’re a fan of, you might be a regular reader: you know when your latest episodes of Silicon Valley go live, and when new episodes of your favorite podcast are released.

I’ve written previously about the 20 Mile March and why it’s so useful as a set-up for getting things done. Today I want to share how I’ve broken down my writing structure and why the frames are so helpful for me.

These are my personal writing frames:

A weekly blog, delivered every Monday at 10AM.

I publish a weekly blog at sarahkpeck.com/writing, every Monday at 10AM. (The newsletter ships at 10AM, but the post is scheduled to go live by 6AM Eastern time.)

I try to maintain a queue of posts that are ready to go for at least six weeks in advance, so I’m not operating at last minute. (This doesn’t always work out, but I do my best.) When I need a break, I follow the likes of Paul Jarvis and James Clear and announce that I’m taking a monthly break (this often happens in August for a summer sabbatical and in December/January, when most people are on winter holiday).

In the past, I committed to writing once per week, but I never committed to a specific date or time. This year, I’m increasing the rigidity of the structure by adding a day and a time to it.

Every Monday at 10AM, there’s a new post.

It’s my goal with this to get into a regular habit with my readers to deliver great essays right at the top of the week, when we’re primed to take action and set ourselves up for success.

A monthly newsletter, delivered on the 1st of every month.

On the first of every month, I write a popular newsletter that’s a round-up post linking back to all of the writing I’ve created, the best blog posts, and the newest offerings. I include a monthly writing practice, a review of best books I’d recommend, and links to the best articles I’ve read and think were worth sharing.

One of the things that’s important in my practice of writing a monthly newsletter is curating and culling. Finding ways to set up a structure and add limits allows me to reach for higher-quality work.

The structure of my newsletter is loosely based on the following:

  • A short opening essay (usually personal in nature)
  • A quiz or a question (”what should I teach or write next?”)
  • A round-up of top 4 posts, visually with links
  • Monthly journal practice
  • Book recommendations of the month
  • Quote of the month
  • Best of the web: top 10 links that are worth putting in your reading queue
  • Accountability: a tracker of my yearly goals and how I’m doing with them (books, meditation, exercise, and learning)

Here’s an example of a past newsletter that follows the structure above.

Daily, public journal.

Sometimes I just need a free place to write, free-form, to work through ideas. I’ve used this Tumblr at sarahkathleenpeck.tumblr.com for years as a place to house ideas, show my process, and write out new pieces.

Sometimes you’ll see an overlap as an idea develops here, and then moves to my more formal blog. Sometimes I take years off (see: having a baby in 2016), and then return to the writing practice time and time again. This frame is more of a house, or a home, and a place I know where I can always go to write. It’s not guided by a specific time but it’s a house all the same: it’s a place I can go write when I need to write in a flurry.

The components of a great frame:

Every time we reduce the amount of thinking we’re doing about the thing we want to actually be doing, we create more space to be doing what we wanted to do in the first place. Frames create a particular quality of freedom by removing the number of times you have to make a decision about how you’re going to behave in the future.

A work schedule is a frame, for example. When you’re committed to working between the hours of 10am and 5pm, that’s a specific pattern and your behaviors fall in line accordingly. (How you decide to spend the late evenings, when you get coffee, what you wear, etc, are all influenced by the work frame.)

A habit pattern or frame consists of the following:

  • A rhythm or a pattern tied to a specific recurring day or date.
  • A frequency (daily, weekly, etc) or total quantity (I will do this 100 times)
  • A specific time
  • A place where you do the work, and show up to do the work
  • A clear, actionable, specific (SMART) way to measure whether or not you’ve succeeded.

A writing frame that’s every Monday at a specific time (10AM), delivered via WordPress (my online home), publishing via blog and email, and looks like a published, live, blog post is a frame that works for me.

Past frames I’ve given up:

I’ve tried on other frames, like daily blogging, and that hasn’t worked for me successfully. I’ve tried publishing more frequently, and that erodes my available time for other things (like book writing, or running my Mastermind, for example).

What structures do you use to set yourself up for success? How do you plan out and map your own writing or creative practice?

One of my favorite things about the word “practice,” is that it reminds us that all we have to do is keep practicing. If we can optimize for making space to practice, with weekly rituals and reminders, then we’ll be doing the work.

Because doing the work is what matters more than almost anything else.

How will you set up your own frames for success?

January Writing Theme: Discernment

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

Each month I share a monthly writing prompt for you to reflect on, write about, and discuss. I’ll be writing a lot on this theme, and I invite you to join me in writing by linking your blog in the comments below or following the hashtag #mowriting on Twitter or Instagram.

Discernment: What is it? What does it mean to be discerning?

How do you decide? How do you know?

Discernment is “the ability to judge well.”

It is, to me, about our own internal ways of knowing.

How do you know? 

Growth, after all, is about the knowledge and discernment to see who we are, to test what we’ve done, and to figure out how to change it. If we don’t pay attention — if we aren’t discerning enough — how will we learn?

Discernment implies judgment. How do you judge? When do you know you’ve used good judgment, and when do you realize you’ve made

How do you judge? When do you know you’ve used good judgment, and when do you realize you’ve made poor judgment?

What does wisdom look like in your life? Today, this moment, this month?

Join me in reflecting on this question this month. What does it mean to be discerning and why is it important to do so?

I invite you to consider the ability to discern your own path and inner wisdom, as well as the ability to discern more about the world around you.

Leave a note in the comments on this post with your reflections, share your pieces using the hashtag #mowriting, or send me a note with a guest post if you’d like to contribute to this month’s theme.

###

November Writing Theme: Connection

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

Each month I share a monthly writing prompt for you to reflect on, write about, and discuss. I’ll be writing a lot on this theme, and I invite you to join me in writing by linking your blog in the comments below or following the hashtag #mowriting on Twitter or Instagram.

Connection: What is it? What does it mean to connect?

How do you connect? How do you know when you have connected to someone or something?

What do you connect to?

What makes up a “missed connection”?

For me, I know that I want to listen more deeply to my inner compass and pay attention to what I need, moment by moment. This requires discernment, reflection, and ultimately connection to who I am and what I want.

I also want to connect more deeply to the people around me — through writing, letters, more frequent phone calls, better and more vulnerable conversations, hugs, and deepening my most cherished friendships.

Join me in reflecting on this question this month. What does it mean to connect and why is it important to do so?

I invite you to consider both the connection within yourself, as well as the outward connections to other people (or things).

Leave a note in the comments on this post with your reflections, share your pieces using the hashtag #mowriting, or send me a note with a guest post if you’d like to contribute to this month’s theme.

###

PS: Join me in my next two live seminars!

Do you ever get overwhelmed by scheduling your day, week, or month? Does email bog you down or frustrate you? I’m teaching two new virtual seminars this November all about rethinking the way you schedule your week (November 9th) and becoming a jedi master with your email inbox (November 17th).

The seminars are 1-hour long, live, and will be recorded. Registration is $49 per class.

Routine

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

Every night, after a day’s worth of pumping milk for my baby, my husband takes the pump from my hands and washes it out in the sink with the special brush.

He shakes it dry, clean, ready for the next day. He says it’s one of the ways he can help with this job that is so much mine. It’s our routine. I pump, he cleans it up. We tuck into bed.

Every morning, after I drop the baby at daycare, I exercise. First things first. I take care of my body. Leo and I walk down the sidewalks by the park and we buzz into the daycare center. I smile and wave at him and he babbles at the daycare ladies. Morning, baby, daycare, exercise.

It’s the routine.

On the weekends, we try to make a stew in the Fall on Sundays. Leo is currently napping, I’m in flannel, writing, and Alex is in the kitchen, chopping up vegetables for a fall stew. We got one creuset deep pot at our wedding as a gift from one of Alex’s mentors, and the blue pot has been filled with stews and soups and creamy vegetables more times than we can count. We fill the pot with a stew and eat out of it as the week goes by. It feeds us and it fuels us.

We enjoy the variation and we sink into the routine.

A routine is a sequence of actions, regularly followed. It can be a routine that you follow in a dance (like a tap routine), or a series of steps you perform as part of a program. It’s often done on the regular, rather than as a special occasion.

“He settled down into his routine of writing and work.” 

“She got into the daily routine of exercise.” 

The word comes from “route,” or a regular, carved-into-the-earth way of getting there. Roads are carved from steady use and repetition. The road becomes a regular way of being.

We carve out our routines, and then our routines provide space for our craft to expand.

My little one loves having a routine. He’s out of the newborn phase (although still a baby), and thrives when he’s given regular naps and feedings. A day of good naps can be the difference between a smiley, content baby, and my fussy, crying-and-wiggling baby. Both are the same kid, on different routines.

Designed well, a routine lets me get more of what I want. I am as many words as I make space to sit down and write. If I spend all of my time thinking about what I’m going to do and when I’m going to do it, I’ve spent my time thinking, not doing. The routine lets me forget the path and get into the substance.

A routine is a way of being. How do you show up in the world? What are the patterns of your life, of your work, of your being?

More than an intention for a day, or a desire for the week, is the importance of setting up good habits. A routine is the invisible structure that lets us dig into what we want to do. Rather than rely on motivation or inspiration — we can settle into the gold that is habit formation.
This Fall, I’ve been craving routine more than anything.

Putting on and choosing (or not choosing) your clothing is a routine. In our household, we’re eliminating most of our clothing (my husband and I share a closet together — one closet, and we each have half of a dresser). We stick to a few basic outfits to stay simple. Why? Because we want to choose ideas and creativity in our work over thinking about year’s worth of clothing choices.

I exercise at the same time every day as part of a routine.

A pattern for the day, a pattern for the work, a system of organization, a structure that provides clarity — and freedom. A cadre, or a frame, can be more freeing than the idea of unlimited freedom.

By creating a routine, I can expand.

##
What’s your routine? What are your habits and ways of being? This post is part of the Monthly Writing Prompts — check out October’s theme, here.
Get monthly writing prompts in your inbox by signing up for the newsletter, here.

October Monthly Writing Group: Routine

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

Last week I posed a question in a few writing groups I’m in: would a monthly writing theme be helpful to you as a writer?

Do you want to write about a topic, a subject, or an idea together?

The answer was a resounding yes.

A monthly framework to write: join me for a new theme, each month.

So, let’s write together each month around a topic or a theme. Each month, I’ll put forward a topic for consideration with a call to write.

What’s in a monthly writing prompt?

  1. Read below to find out this month’s theme.
  2. Take the theme, explore it, and anytime this month (October 2016) write a poem, essay, or reflection of your choosing. You can take photos, post on Instagram, share on Twitter, or publish an essay.
  3. Leave a link to your work in the comments on this post. Share it using the hashtag #MoWriting (it’s short for “More Writing” and “Monthly Writing.”)

We can all read through the posts (check the links in the comments!) and get to know more of each other’s work and writing.

October’s writing theme: routines

Welcome to October, a time for introspection, reflection, and turning inwards.

Keeping in line with the idea of a monthly theme (which is itself a pattern and a routine), the first theme is all about Routine.

  • What does it mean to have a routine?
  • What does your routine look like?
  • What is routine, and what is not?
  • Does having a routine help you? When does having a routine not help you?
  • What are the routines in your relationships, your partnerships
  • What is your routine in your work?
  • Where do you want more, or less, structure and habit?

I find myself craving more routine as I take off on my next business adventure (yes, it’s happening already.) I’m drawing and detailing and designing in notebooks. I’m creating structures for expansion, creating places for community.

Why I’m creating this

Writing together has always held me accountable and let me dive deeper. Rather than flitting from one idea to the next, I want a way to dive deeper into a subject and explore it through multiple posts, as well as hear ideas from other authors, writers, and creators I admire. Using monthly themes and habits has been a successful tool in my own practice.

I’m borrowing these ideas from two organizations I admire greatly: Thousand Network has monthly themes for the Thousand Women’s Circle that I’m a part of, and Holstee’s Mindful Matter blog explores monthly themes, which I adore and have written for. So I will add to the room and create a monthly theme here on this website, for anyone who wants to join.

Going deeper with community

One of my desires is to find a way to bring more people together in community. Writing a blog alone is not enough; I want my business and my practice to bring creative people together. When we work together in creative ecosystems, collaborate on work (even if the work is first done solo), and find people to be in community with, our work grows richer and stronger.

Over the past few years, I’ve had a chance to see what happens with community through our writing groups, the Grace and Gratitude workshop, and in the private mastermind that kicked off a few weeks ago. (If you want to learn more about the next round of the Mastermind and put in an application for consideration, sign up here). Each time I admire how much you grow, especially as you learn from each other. If I can design things that bring people together — in community and around ideas — I’m content.

By finding and sharing your writing with each other — and by letting you discover each other through the comments and hashtags — I hope that you’ll all get to meet more of each other. I get to meet so many amazing people through writing on this blog, and I’m searching for ways to bring this community closer together over the coming years.

The prompts are free and the love is abundant!

So, go write about your routines, push publish on your essays and images, and leave a comment below with a link to your piece.

Missing A Day

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

I woke up with a start at 11:30pm on Saturday night. I didn’t post anything today!

I had forgotten to post: so many things swept up to take hold of the day. New York got a blizzard with 22 inches of snow. Alex and I hiked through it to take a 16-hour weekend class on birthing, massage, postpartum, and newborn care. My head was full. My feet were tired.

I didn’t write.

So began the conundrum:

Lying in bed, do I get up and rush to the computer? Do I stay up late, disrupt my routine, insist that the deadline is more important than all else?

Or—and I think arguably this is harder for me—do I find a way to relax into the moment, let it go, and begin anew the next day?

I decided to try to skip posting. My head frantically came up with things to write and say while I was in bed. I exhaled and said, tomorrow. Tomorrow. We can begin again tomorrow.

It is okay to be imperfect.

The challenge for me, and I don’t know how many other people feel this way as well, is not letting one lapse cloud and cluster my judgment. Would missing a day throw me off kilter? Would I backslide and decide that not writing was easier, and I’d just skip a few days, who cared?

The next day, the practice was as follows: rise and wake, and begin again. Every day, we begin again.

Don’t frantically try to “catch up” and write the past essays, or write through every single prompt. Start today, with one essay, with one post.

Every day is a new day.

Here we are.

We begin, again.

50 Things That Make Me Happy

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

In the free series of writing prompts I put together, one of the prompts is to make a list of 50 things that make you happy. I love lists (they’re one of the things that makes me happy!), and I love using lists as a way to kick-start my writing.

It’s not writing, it’s making a list!

Writing lists appeals so much to my desire for organization, neatness, structure, and order.

Today’s prompt is to make a list of things that make you feel good. If you’d like, scratch out your own list, or enjoy perusing my list, below.

1. When the sky fades from baby blue to yellow in one stunning moment, just before the sky dips into brilliant indigo and deepens to darkness. The hint of a highlight of the last moment of sun over the rooftops, indicating the near-closing of a day.

2. The immensity of oceans, water, and the seaside. Sitting by the sound of swelling waves lapping up at your toes. Where the sky meets the waves meet you.

photo-1448814100339-234df1d4005d

3. Swimming, being in water, being immersed in water, being hugged by water.

4. Showers, the tickle of rainfall shower heads, the drizzle of an open-air shower on a hot summer day, opening your mouth to capture part of the rain, closing your eyes, dreaming up the best ideas inside a steady trickle of wet noise.

5. Baths. Luxurious, delicious baths. Bath houses. Steam rooms and cold baths and warm baths and Japanese bath houses and Russian-Turkish baths. The community aspect of bath houses in the winter. The solo aspect of rejuvenating your body.

6. Beaches.Sand in your toes. Sand just warm enough to melt you in it, but not too hot to burn your toes. Playing volleyball in the sand.

7. Forests. Canopies of leaves, overhead roofs, green for days. Multiple colors of green, a rainbow of greens, bright and neon to dark and seductive.

8. Hidden trails and hiking adventures. Leaves, trees, and paths beckoning you to follow them. Wandering in the woods on a mindful adventure.

9. Camping. Spending time outdoors. Un-plugging. Doing things more slowly. Cooking food. Stinking up like campfire smoke.

10. Cabins. Wooden cabins, small cabins, cabins with shared kitchens.

photo-1445964047600-cdbdb873673d

11. Retreats and adventures with close groups of friends. Sharing a home, a meal, a weekend with people you choose to call family.

12. Shared silence. Conversational silence. Understanding the beauty of a pause as rich as the words just spoken beforehand.

13. Parallel play. Being in the same room as someone and not having your attention commanded by the ego or insecurity of the person across from you. Dwelling in collective, simultaneous absorption in a project or task and relishing in the depth of self-thought.

14. Learning how to sing. Music, of all forms. Wiggling your hips to shake off the day.

15. Afghans and blankets! Particularly tossed up over my head and cuddling me up.

16. Cuddles. Hugs and snuggles and couch cuddles. Pile-ups with family and getting 5 people in a bed just for hugs. Promoting hug parties instead of standing and gabbing when I get tired of extroverted party antics.

17. Really, really good conversations. Conversations that unfold over a period of days, exploring an idea, returning to it, delving into it, pausing, becoming something again.

18. The perfect chair to sit in.

19. Reading good books: books that sweep you up and away inside of their ideas or adventures.

20. Exploring new places as a way of staying present with yourself.

21. Sleep that feels just right and wakes you up feeling refreshed.

photo-1436985487860-712a3b558087

22. Fractal patterns and other patterns in nature. Wondering in the beauty of existing forms, creations, and beings. Sinking into the awe of it all.

23. A black hardcover moleskin.

24. Pens! Pilot pens, V5 thickness. Black ink. Plus back-up roller-ball pens for airplanes, because sadly these favorite pens can explode on airplanes.

25. Cards, notepaper, stationary, letters. A box of unwritten cards beckoning to be written. An enveloped of letters stashed away in my backpack. Writing letters to friends as often as daily.

26. Text messages with friends for no reason.

27. Laughing at inside jokes. Being unable to stop laughing. Uncontrollable giggles. Things that make you giggle with their memory, hours and days later.

28. Monthly friend dates with people far away, people all over the world.

29. Someone who sends the perfect Google calendar invitation, knows their way around online organization tools, and is as geeky as you are about email, scheduling, and notifications. You breathe out. They get it. YES.

30. Making friends on the internet without ever moving past the social connection. Just knowing that you know each other are there. Having that be a joy in itself, and enough, for right now.

31. Writing. Writing in my journal, writing 750 words, writing a blog post, writing an email. Writing out my feelings, my ideas, my worries, my anxieties. Even writing in the middle of the night, when I have to — I still love it.

photo-1432821596592-e2c18b78144f-large

32.Writing lists!

33. The perfect soup-plate bowl. One plate-bowl to rule them all.

34. Family. Sisters. Brothers. Cousins.

35. Alex’s cuddles, his smile, his hands, his kind spirit. Talking to Alex when I’m having a rough day and knowing he’ll let me cry and he’ll rub my back.

36. Bicycles. Summertime air. Being outdoors.

37. Bourbon or a really delicious cocktail from Three Sisters in Brooklyn. (I’m longing for one — sometime, soon enough, we’ll have another one.)

38. Cooking potluck dinners for friends. Stews made in one large Creuset pot, soaking up flavors all day.

39. The view from up above — aerial views from a plane.

photo-1441644599508-24ae08965c5c

40. Thanksgiving. Gratitude. Christmas with the family.

41. Snow Fall. Winter boots.

42. All of my Ecco shoes (they are the BEST). A good brand that treats you well. Excellent customer service.

43. The sound of rain when you’re inside.

44. Blossoms bursting open on an early day of Spring. The first signs of winter shaking off it’s cool slumber into the explosive greenery that is Spring. The fierce trumpeting of birds, flowers, and forests in a vibrant sense of newness and noise.

45. Volleyball games outside. Soccer games. Pick-up soccer! The Brooklyn Bridge Waterfront park. Ultimate frisbee. Running in cleats. Bicycling home. Breathing hard.

46. Yoga. Breathwork. Connecting to your self, your mind, your spirit, your body. Union. Refreshing realizations.

47. Meditation. Easy music to put you into a peaceful resting. Finding a place of stillness in your seat and relishing in it. A warm cup of tea and gazing out the window. Letting the thoughts untangle, tumble out. Slowing down. Breathing.

48. Lofts and unexpected nooks and crannies inside of houses.

49. Urban patterns. Architecture. Understanding that everything outside is built, made-up, born of someone’s imagination and patterning. Space, time, movement, and human behavior. Small cities and big bustling metropolis’. Rural farms and tiny cabins.

50. Being connected to each other.

How to Give (and Get) Great Feedback On Your Writing

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

photo-1429032021766-c6a53949594f

A lot of people have asked me about how to get feedback on their essays. How do they publish it? Who should they ask? And why do they cringe and worry so much about whether or not people will be kind and say good things (or terrible things) about their essays?

Part of the fear in publishing is about being taken down by other people and having people hate what you make. Criticism can feel absolutely terrible and really sting. So how do you craft an essay — and share it — in a way that elicits positive responses?

While I can’t ban all internet trolls from existing, I can tell you some strategic tips about asking for feedback. We rarely do it, and it’s really helpful:

Be direct about the type of feedback you want.

How to ask for feedback (as a writer).

As a writer, it’s your job to proactively say exactly what you’re looking for with a review of your essay. It works really well if you are very clear about what feedback you’re looking for.

For example, here are some types of feedback you might be looking for:

  • Idea-based feedback: what do you think of the idea? Should I keep pursuing it? Is it a good direction?
  • Structural / developmental: does it make sense? Is it organized well? Should the ideas be re-arranged or sequenced differently?
  • Copyediting/proofreading: More fine-tuned, looking for lots of little errors and any last-minute typos.

If you’re looking for idea-based feedback, you might tell someone, “Hey, I have a draft with a bunch of typos in it, it’s not polished, but I want a gut-check that the idea is on the right track. Mind taking a look (and ignoring the typos) and letting me know if you think the overall direction is interesting?” 

Because there are so many types of editing and feedback, it’s hard to know whether you want another person to tell them your ideas on the right track — or to nit-pick through the commas and the punctuation.

You have to tell people what you want.

As a writer, it’s our job to give guidance to what we want. For me, this includes sending early drafts to friends that say, “Hey friend! I’m working on a piece and this is a super rough draft. I don’t need any heavy criticism just yet, but I’d love some words of encouragement and if you could tell me if you think this essay has some good pieces in it.”

I also love asking, when I’m ready, for people to “rip it up, tear it apart, let me know how it stands up to critique.”

How to GIVE feedback:

There’s a great essay and resource from the Facebook design team about how to give great feedback. There’s a difference between critique and criticism, and it’s important to understand the difference. From the article:

  • Criticism passes judgement — Critique poses questions
  • Criticism finds fault — Critique uncovers opportunity
  • Criticism is personal — Critique is objective
  • Criticism is vague — Critique is concrete
  • Criticism tears down — Critique builds up
  • Criticism is ego-centric — Critique is altruistic
  • Criticism is adversarial — Critique is cooperative
  • Criticism belittles the designer — Critique improves the design

This is a great list for understanding how to frame your feedback. Rather than saying “your idea is shit,” for example (although why would we say that!?), we could say, “It’s hard for me to understand the idea because the sentences are really long and winding. Can you try again with shorter sentences to unpack the idea more?”

Their guiding principle for giving feedback is that “critique should not serve the purpose of boosting the ego or the agenda of anyone in the meeting.”

When you give another writer feedback, you’re helping them to build up the essay. Consider yourself a collaborator and a coach that’s helping shape and tease out the best of their ideas. What questions can you ask that will help them clarify their ideas? How can they better explain things? Where do they need to give further stories and examples? What could be simplified or seems confusing to you?

This quality of feedback is immensely helpful, and when I get it from fellow editors, I am grateful.

What about you?

When have you asked for feedback? When have you received useful feedback on your writing? What works, and what hasn’t worked? Are you nervous about sharing your writing?

Beating Procrastination: 14 Days In, Missed My First Deadline

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

I missed my deadline this morning — I usually like to have something scheduled to publish for 6 AM each day.

What I’ve been doing is writing during the day and scheduling the post for the following day so I don’t stress on any single day.

But, like promised, I missed a day. Caught a cold on Tuesday night and was in bed most of Wednesday, and today, Thursday… there’s no essay. Nothing pushed out at 6 AM. The only thing that happened this morning was a lot of sneezing and nose-blowing. 

It’s strange, I can feel the stereotypical methods of procrastination sinking in, even while sick. It’s like a sly troll, cuddling in bed with me, green slithery arms wrapping themselves up in my bed sheets. “You already missed your deadline, what does it matter now?” and “It’s 9 AM? You can wait until 10 or 11 AM. There’s no urgency anymore.”

“I mean, you already missed your deadline. Who’s waiting up on you?” 

Then, even more dangerous thoughts: “Well what would happen if you just missed a day? It’s not like it really matters to anyone if you keep up this schedule. You’re just doing this for yourself. It’s an arbitrary deadline.”

Yes, it’s an arbitrary deadline. Yes, it’s “just” a small goal I have for myself, to practice writing every day. And yes, it would be okay — the world would get on, I would get on — if I missed a day.

And if I were so sick I couldn’t move, I couldn’t think, I couldn’t do anything — sure, I could take a break.

But I just spent an hour scrolling on Facebook, another hour staring at a wall, and I answered a few work emails. Bed is doing me good, and I’m getting plenty of rest — but am I really “too sick” to write? 

Wait, would you look at that.

I just wrote something.