5 WAYS NOT TO LOSE IT...

...YOUR MIND? Nope, can't help you there. Mine is long gone. I'm talking about momentum. Keeping it going during the summer doldrums is a task worthy of the most dogged writers. So, here are some suggestions I need to follow myself:

1) Writer dates: meet a friend for coffee and a workshop session. You read ten pages of theirs, they read ten pages of yours, meet, discuss!

2) Read headlines; they can be quite inspiring. For example: STUDY, WHY OLDER WOMEN HAVE HIGHER SEX DRIVE.

3) Enter a contest. It gives you a deadline.

4) Go to a reading or lecture. If you listen long enough you're going to want to speak.

5) Travel--it breaks us out of our routines and gives us great settings for all kinds of adventure. And, it may inspire you to play with another medium, like photography or video. I've always found that when I PLAY in a medium where I lack expertise, I am returned to the realm of discovery. For example, the video below that I made of Paris. In the process I learned how to create, edit, and post a video and now I can bring that to my memoir process!