Resetting Our Creativity

Over the last several weeks, several months, truthfully, it’s felt like everyone I know, including myself, has been running on empty in most areas of life. At the very beginning of this “new normal” period, every day was a bit of an unknown. From not really knowing how long the pandemic was going to last,… Read more »

#5onFri: Five Steps to Beat Writer’s Block (Using Prompts!)

It’s easy to take writing prompts for granted. Maybe because they’re so abundant, we wonder if they can really help that much. Maybe it’s because they’re so fun, it’s hard to take them seriously. Those suffering from writer’s block especially seem to go to extremes in their approach to prompts. On one side, blocked writers… Read more »

How to Take Agency Back from Writer’s Block

I’ve been writing my whole life. Writing is such a part of my life that it didn’t occur to me until I was in my early teens that other people didn’t write as much as I did. Despite this lifelong journey as a writer, I still have times when I encounter what is commonly referred… Read more »

Turning Daily News Into Story Fodder

At the end of last year, I took an enormous risk along with the support of my wonderful husband and community: I quit my job in communications to write fiction full time, for one year. In the nearly six months since, I have regretted not one ounce of that decision. It has been the greatest… Read more »

#5onFri: Five Steps to Create Agency in Your Writing Life

As with any creative endeavor, there is a certain amount of inspiration that needs to happen in your writing: the beautiful melding of your varied experiences turned into something new and wonderful, yet familiar and accessible. The problem comes when you, as a writer, think that work can only be done when you have that… Read more »

Writing Through Fear and Anxiety

I almost didn’t write this article. My every attempt at beginning failed. Interestingly enough, my last Writing Small article, Tips and Techniques for Training Your Writing Brain, covered a number of techniques to fire your writing muscles up. Yet somehow, I still found myself at a loss. While I’m by no means a prolific author,… Read more »

Episode 14: Creative Monsters

Happy Halloween everyone! Since Halloween is this Friday, I wanted to dedicate this episode to things that go bump in the night by talking about creative monsters in our lives. Creative monsters take many forms and use a variety of techniques to rip our creative ideas and spirit to shreds. In this episode, we’ll learn… Read more »

Episode 13: The 5 Stages of Writer’s Block

In today’s episode I want to talk to you about writer’s block. Specifically, the 5 stages of writer’s block, inspired by the Kübler-Ross stages of grief. If you’ve ever experienced writer’s block, you know that you have to get through all these stages to be able to get back to writing. Writer’s block is painful,… Read more »

Getting Creative on Demand

When we started our website, Final Deadline, we made creativity our business. For those looking to get creative, here are four simple steps from the murky pool of our collective wisdom. 1) Panic! So the deadline’s tomorrow and your wordcount is still smaller than your bank balance; the more conventional advice might be, “Don’t panic.” This… Read more »