![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Screenshot-2024-01-01-163228-278x300.png)
Joy
The Writer's Life
Blog
business, personal finance, and joy.
LEARN ABOUT
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Screenshot-2024-01-01-163228-278x300.png)
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Screenshot-2023-12-24-103548-280x300.png)
The Gift of Dreaming Big
Now is the perfect moment to unwrap the gift of boundless ambition.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Screenshot-2023-11-07-172848-300x201.png)
The Best Thing I Read This Week
I have a list of general questions I start with in most interviews, but often just let my curiosity lead me. This NYT opinion piece added so many more to my list.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Screenshot-2023-10-26-180443-e1698358506969-300x231.png)
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Screenshot-2023-09-02-112120-298x300.png)
Writing on Vacation
When I take any type of vacation, I try to leave all the “shoulds” of my writing life behind. Then the biggest question is, “Should I write at all on vacation?”
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-19-224844-259x300.png)
Put the Spirit of Summer in Your Writing
How often do you write something just for the joy of writing?
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/PHOT3154-300x200.jpg)
How to Get Your Writing Joy Back
Take your writing life from striving to thriving with the ultimate life hack: remembering we’re all going to die anyway.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Paulette-reading-book-300x300.jpeg)
Beat the Summer Writing Slump
We don’t want to look back in the fall and think, “Bleh, I have to start all over again!” Inertia is a b-word.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/pic-for-post-about-writing-satire-e1677462066304-300x225.png)
Have You Ever Considered Writing Satire?
Writing parody and satire is so fun, so refreshing, I think more writers would do it if they felt permission.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Paulette-is-sensitive-pic-e1668617122760-300x225.jpeg)
Die, Procrastination!
There is just something magical about starting your writing with a short mindfulness practice.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Julia-Cameron-e1666897693804-300x225.png)
Julia Cameron Taught Me to Pray
In my spiritual life, an attempt at still openness has been central. I never prayed into that openness, until my conversation with Julia Cameron.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/IMG_3197-e1662398282963-300x225.jpeg)
Belting “You Won’t Break My Soul” as a Freelance Writer
If you work now as a freelance writer, or dream of working as a freelance writer, I implore you today to pump the volume to irresponsible, and blast Beyoncé’s Break My Soul.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022.05.25-Darkness-post-300x225.jpg)
For Writers Feeling Helpless in the Darkness
What’s the opposite of a terrorist? An artist.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022.04.22-Me-and-Dog-Boomer-300x225.jpg)
How to Get a Free Writing Retreat (Or Almost Anything)
If you’ve ever been a child, you know intuitively how to barter. Like early man, children have no money. They use what they do have to get what they want.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CFD9A285-4578-494E-B888-B6554DB58EF8-1-300x225.jpeg)
Tending the Fire of Your Writing Life
It felt like the days when I’d first fallen in love with writing. During a long morning stretch on a comfy chair with a coffee,
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2021-Authors-Photo-Looking-at-camera-2-cropped-for-Web-300x230.jpg)
To Thrive as a Freelancer, Enter the Writing Matrix
When you write for the love and as a way to support yourself, the question of why you write can get murky.
Let’s distill it.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/IMG_8659-300x225.jpeg)
The Ultimate Guide to Making New Year’s Resolutions During a Pandemic
Five million people have died. How will you now live?
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/blog-photo-2-300x225.jpg)
How I Stopped Fighting About Cooking on Thanksgiving
How do we write the story of our lives and our families?
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/PHOT3155-300x200.jpg)
Why You Have a Shelf of Unread Books (and What to Do About It)
Join us here in the Bookshelf Shame Club.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2021.07.29-Olympics-Photo-300x225.png)
The Olympics, “Success,” Suicide, and Self-Care
Success and well-being are two entirely different things.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021.05.20-Wild-and-Precious-Quarantine-300x225.jpg)
Overcome the Quarantine Slump in Your Writing with a Powerful New Story
What Is It You Plan to Do with Your One Wild and Precious Quarantine? You do not have to say “I should…” You do not
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Me-and-Kirsten-e1617198554689-300x225.png)
The 5 Joys of Kickass Clients (Aside from the Money)
Sure, great clients pay well, but there are so many other reasons to work for getting them as well.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Me-Crying-219x300.png)
3 Reasons I Write About Pain
One day last year, I was nearly doubled over in emotional pain, feeling directionless, asking what I should even do with all this pain. A
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Hate-Yourself-300x122.jpg)
What Happens When You Stop Hating Yourself
When you start from a place of acceptance, you’re more likely to find a way to stop disappointing yourself.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/PHOT0152-scaled-e1604297111438-300x219.jpg)
Focus, Productivity, and Community in One
In the middle of my wallowing and feeling like crap when the Pandemic began, I took a dance class with Ryan Heffington, which zapped me