Melanie Bell

Tag: writing

  • New Year, New You? Think Baby Steps.

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    It’s that time again: time for New Year’s resolutions. January rolls around and you make plans for the year ahead. You envision your best self and create resolutions hoping to make that person real. Sometimes your goals pan out. If you’re anything like me, though, all too often the following year arrives and the idealized…

  • Celebrating My Wins of 2018

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    It’s hard to believe that 2018 is almost over. Hopefully the year has had bright spots for you as it has for me. Following the publication of The Modern Enneagram in 2017, this has been a fruitful year of career building in writing and editing. I’m celebrating these wins as we honor the year that’s…

  • Finding Your (Writing) Style

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    When I was first learning about the Enneagram (the personality system I teach and have written a book about), one conference presenter surprised me by handing out style questionnaires. I was a little perplexed – I’d come to learn about people’s inner worlds, not to talk about what types of clothing I preferred to wear!…

  • 5 Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Editor

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    You’ve invested time, effort, and skill in a writing project that matters to you. You’ve taken your idea from inspiration to a complete draft, with all the hours that it’s entailed. Congratulations! Not everyone has the tenacity and productive habits to finish a project. It’s truly something to be proud of. As happy as you…

  • How to Switch Between Your Writing and Editing Hats

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    Writing and editing are complementary skills, two sides of the same coin. When you write, it’s helpful to develop your self-editing ability so that you can polish your prose (or poetry). Having done both writing and editing professionally, I’ve found that switching between the two isn’t always easy. In this blog post, I’ll take a…

  • How to Write a Personal Story That Connects with Readers

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    I recently finished doing a manuscript assessment for a memoir. The author was eager to tell their story to future generations of their family, having put much time and effort into researching their own family history and finding the stories sparse. A memoirist in my writers’ group is impelled by the same impulse. The lines…

  • 9 Tricks to Try When You Have Writer’s Block

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    Writer’s block. We’ve all been there. You want to write but find yourself staring at a blank page, your mind void of ideas. Maybe you’ve encountered a block on a project you’re currently working on, or maybe you’re hoping to start a new one and the inspiration just isn’t flowing. Either way, the words aren’t…

  • The Myth of the Solitary Writer: How to Build a Support Team

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    Think of a writer. You’re probably picturing a lone figure with a laptop, right? A big part of being a writer is the writing itself, an activity that’s usually done in solitude by a single individual. However, the work of a writer involves collaboration at multiple levels, even for the most introverted of the bunch…

  • What I Learned – and Wish I’d Learned – in Creative Writing Grad School

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    There are debates in the writing world about the value of studying creative writing, and whether it’s beneficial or detrimental for honing your writing skills. I spent two years in a graduate Creative Writing program. Having gone on to write and edit professionally, there are skills I’m glad to have learned in class and others…

  • Writing and Publication: A Nonlinear Path

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    In 2016, I’d given up on getting a publishing deal. I’d been writing for most of my life. As a teenager, I’d self-published two poetry books (in the day before digital publishing, when self-publishing meant going to Kwik Kopy to get paper books printed) as fundraisers for charity. I went on to study Creative Writing…