Course Correcting, Compassion and Forgiveness

July 21, 2021 / Tanja Pajevic / blog / No Comments

In my Memoir Mastery course, we talk a lot about course-correcting. Writing a compelling memoir isn’t the straightest of paths. There’s exploration and play, deepening and thickening, and the final piece often looks different than expected. That’s why we start with a plan, then compassionately adjust as we go. It’s like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. –E.L. Doctorow Part of the writing process involves course-correcting our expectations. We often think the process will be easier and quicker than it is. That’s where compassion and self-forgiveness come in. If we get stuck in the inner critic loop, we’re done. I’ve learned this the hard way. In the past 20 years, I’ve written five books, two of which have been published. Course-correcting has been an essential part of this […]

5 Tips to Get You Writing NOW

March 28, 2019 / Tanja Pajevic / blog / No Comments

Starting (or restarting) a writing routine can be one of the most stressful parts of writing. Here are 5 tips to get you up and running as quickly and easily as possible. Tip #1: Don’t wait for inspiration. One of the biggest myths out there is that writers wait for inspiration, which then beams down, God-like, to the chosen few. Whoa, Nelly. Nothing could be further from the truth. Writing, at its essence, is work. It’s something you sit down and do, over and over. And the best writers are those who sit down, day in and day out, to get their stories onto the page. Writing, revising, revising again. Check, check and check. This is the cold, hard, not-so-sexy truth of writing. Like lots of other things in life (eating well, exercising, etc.), a consistent writing practice is a habit. Nothing more, […]

15 Ways to Get Unstuck and Reboot Your Writing Project

August 20, 2018 / Tanja Pajevic / blog / No Comments

In our last post, we discussed whether or not to keep going with your current writing project. Now let’s talk about the logistical pieces involved in getting unstuck and rebooting your writing project. Here are about 15 ways to help you move forward—one compassionate step at a time. 15 Ways to Get Unstuck and Reboot Your Writing Project Schedule a set time to restart your project and put it in your planner. If this feels too big, start with 5 or 10 minutes. Treat this as a sacred date with yourself. It is. Start with one easy, small goal. Start with 5 minutes if you’re drowning in overwhelm. Use that first writer’s date to pull out your writing and leaf through it, familiarizing yourself with your project. If you’re ready to start with something bigger, start with 15 or 30 minutes. If the […]

Want to Write a Book But Don’t Know Where to Start?

January 16, 2018 / Tanja Pajevic / blog / No Comments

I can’t tell you how many people tell me they want to write a book. But they don’t know how, don’t have time and/or don’t know where to start. Without a plan, it’s easy to keep putting it off. I get it! Writing a book can be a big project, absolutely. But it can also be incredibly rewarding. The trick is breaking it down into manageable pieces. Some folks think it’s something they can just sit down and do. (As if it’s a matter of will power.) It’s not. Like anything else, writing a book entails getting crystal clear on your project first, before you start writing. Otherwise, you’ll end up wasting tons of time and money, not to mention energy. And there’s nothing worse than sitting down to a blank page without any idea where you’re headed. Yikes! Talk about scary. There’s […]