I'm teaching a course entitled Women and Memoir this winter and I'm psyched! It has been five years since functioning as a professor of philosophy and for a good while I wondered to myself, "Without a job that pays me to research, write and publish, will I ever write again?" To wit: this is not a wise thing to think about when you're jobless and utterly burnt out.

I have come to see that writing regularly, like our circadian rhythm, is something that we cannot neglect for too long without paying a high price. Daily writing, like daily meditation, can help me "treat" an exhaustion in me that more sleep simply cannot touch. Still, sometimes getting started can be challenging.

by John Sammon

I got called a narcissist.

Am I a narcissist?

I’m not a narcissist.

What is a narcissist?

A person who has grandiose feelings about their own self-importance.

Oh, yeah! That’s me! C’mon! You think I’m going to go through life conceding that I’m just like everybody else? I don’t have any right to feel special? Oh, sure! It’s okay for Paris Hilton to have a fun life and be the center of attention, but not me. I’m just a nobody and should be content to be so.

Right!

 You are retired and bored. Or you are still working at your job and bored.

Perhaps, doing a phase transformation by rediscovering your passion and writing a book will help you get out of this funk.

I like those two words, phase transformation; they come from the field of thermodynamics, something I once (sort of) studied in college.

If you need to know about this physics phenomenon more specifically, understand that during a phase transition, certain properties change as a result of some external condition, such as temperature, pressure, and others. For example, a liquid may become gas upon heating to the boiling point, resulting in an abrupt change in volume. Phase transitions are common occurrences observed in nature and the term is most commonly used to describe transitions between solid, liquid and gaseous states of matter.

By Maxine Thompson

The Importance of Voice in Writing

I never realized how important my voice was until I lost mine after my recent thyroid surgery.... We're not talking laryngitis, either. Have you ever tried to ask for directions when you sound like a fog horn, and the mailman can't understand you? Or, have you tried to order a fast-food take-out over the drive-through window speaker when your voice won't go up enough decibels for the person on the other end to hear you? Or, better yet, have you ever hosted an Internet radio show where you sound horrible, and you know it, but you have to move on because this is part of your calling? Talk about frustrating.

(Unlocking Writer's Block)

By Susan Martinez

"Hello, Muses. It's me, Susan. Where the hell are you?"

Have you ever felt like that-alone and desperate for that one great story idea? Unfortunately, that's a writer's lot.

To be a writer is a holy calling that can sometimes feel like a curse. Writing may bring you riches and fame or it may leave you battered and broken. Sometimes it can feel like an addiction.