Kicking off the 2021 year by sharing some of the writing inspiration I’ve gained from a book of Monet's letters and paintings. Let's get writing.
Category: The Writing Life
How are you living the writing life? Sharing my own reflections on my own writing life and the elusive balance between paid writing assignments and personal poetry, blogging, and creative writing projects.
Inspiration
Whenever I'm lacking belief in my writing or stuck on a client project, I only have to take a quick visit to an old book to find some relief. 'MONET by himself.'
To be able to put words to the pain is the beginning of liberation. Jean Vanier -- Seeing Beyond Depression. It's wonderful to feel some energy within myself again for writing. Feeling enthusiasm about anything at all is something that…
Why my blog feels like the ‘Mary Celeste’
Yesterday I read some excellent writing advice on medium.com. Shouting out @tijmenr, who's medium handle I stumbled across yesterday morning while coffeeing and blog browsing in Starbucks Iloilo City. I wish I'd heard it 2 years ago. And when I…
Reflections on a writing practice
For the last five years I've been writing everyday, and over that period have evolved from a sometime poet and blogger to a full-time professional writer. This blog is a short reflection on my writing practice and the art form…
My Big Fat Freelance Life
It's time to talk about that forbidden subject ... the topic that no freelancer wants to discuss with you. The horrifying amount of weight it's possible to gain if you spend your whole life in front of a computer screen,…
Ways To Quickly Improve Your Writing
"The morning pages are not supposed to sound smart -- although sometimes they might. Most times they won't, and nobody will ever know except you." Julia Cameron The Artist's Way None of us emerge from the womb accomplished writers. And…
Writing in Super Typhoons With Sick Kids
With Super Typhoon Mangkhut approaching the Philippines Jerry's classes have been cancelled today. The typhoon will make landfall tomorrow much further north than Iloilo City where we live. But like most of the Philippines, we will cop a lot of…
Just a Few Little Changes
This website has grown quite a bit since it first began, more than 4 years ago. I wasn't working at the time and at the beginning of a 3 year sabbatical. Volunteering in the Philippines I found blogging was a great…
Mutually Exclusive
This may come as a bit of shock to many of you, but the exercise gear parked neatly at my feet is actually covered in dust and hasn't been touched in months and months and ... well ... Anyway I…
You’re Killing Us
How do you keep both sides of the creative fire burning and still have time to play 'What's the time Mr Wolf' with your 9 year old?
Sick. Sick. Sick.
Feeling like I've been on another planet the last few weeks (terribly busy) which is probably why I ended up getting sick.
Starting the Day Right
The best way to start my day as a copywriter is with a wonderful FB video call to help old friends. #lovewriting #friendship #writing
The Little Journal
Whenever I'm in the National Bookstore (or any bookstore for that matter), I always seem to gravitate to the journals. Notebooks fill up very quickly in my house and I never, ever go anywhere without a journal in my bag.…
A Place to Write
Having a dedicated writing space is a little dream of mine and when I get back to the Philippines on Sunday I'm committed to doing just that (even if it means moving house). Of course it might take several months…
neXtDRAFT
(ii) Aesthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of…
About Melinda J. Irvine: freelance writer
My website is a mix of my professional work as a freelance writer and my creativity as a poet and blogger. You'll find poetry, artistic and nature photography, as well as blog articles informed by my experiences as a writer,…
Grandma’s Last Gift
Finishing a book that's been on your reading list for six years always feels like an accomplishment. Especially when it's something my grandmother had specifically requested. Here is my Goodreads review of Michael Baldwin's "The Way to Write Poetry". You…
ENFP = Messy
I'm an ENFP (that's Myers-Briggs talk) and basically that means I'm messy. Yep, by nature I'm one of those creative, messy people that has a desk filled with papers and other junk without a hint of filing. These days I'm…
Write your life
Write in bright colours like your life could be, could might be Still reality. © 2016 Mel Irvine Weekly Discover Challenge: Transcript About eight years ago I bought myself a beautiful bound sketchbook and started sketching my guitar strap and…
Superpower
I have a superpower I can write a line or two about any given subject about going to the zoo about having crazy families about connecting with my friends about grief and loss and someone loved and goodbye, goodbye again about thinking…
Hills, Dad’s Lost Ear and a Dog Called Sally
The township of Nambucca is uneven and hilly and I set out this afternoon (my last few days in town for another year or more) to put those bitumen striped hills and gullies to good. Exercise. Along the way I met…
The Arrival of Magic Fish Dreaming
The Christmas mail to my parent's house brought a wonderful surprise today, the much anticipated book (and some extra surprises) by my dear friend June Perkins, Magic Fish Dreaming. If you have been following my blog you will know that…
A Story in a Single Image
Every story can be known, if you will look. Every image speaks. © 2016 Melinda Irvine Everyday Inspiration: Day 4 (A Story in a Single Image)
25 things I love and had forgotten
Sudden death breaks your heart in many ways. First is the physical pain of it. Another the constant sense of sadness. Guilt for everything you didn't say. And finally, the list you have to make to remember other things you…
Why I Write
As I set my timer to begin I think ... "I don't know. I don't know why I write. I just write." And then slowly, through the words, something emerges. I write because I am inspired by what I see. Traversing…
The Way to Write Poetry
A tribute to my grandmother and those who teach us to write The Way to Write Poetry is a book by Michael Baldwin. I found it among the many bookcases in my grandmother’s house after she died in the winter…
Writing the wild
Sitting on the bank of the creek in Warialda on a stunning spring morning just last week; I was with a group of creative women who had come together to 'Write the Wild'. We were under the supervision of Stephanie Dale, an…