ieva melgalve

Yesterday, I realized that constant, successful writing takes two things: freedom and discipline. Discipline, not “forcing yourself to write and punishing yourself for not doing so”, but “allotting time to write and sticking to it, sitting down, writing and enjoying the thing, too”. It’s possible. Just yesterday, I re-read the beginning of Flowers, and I [...]

Today, I finally put the end to the chapter 4 of Flowers. All the main players are in the key location (except for the dark horse, Daniel, who’s about to make his move very, very soon). And it’s fun. I don’t know at what point had I decided that everything I write has to be [...]

It seems that all I need to start writing is: 1. a couple of good, productive days at work to boost my confidence, 2. a morning tram to work, 3. a constant notice in the blog that I am writing, yes, I am. So here I go. It’s nothing much, just two pages on that [...]

I think it was yesterday that, at a panel on writing, people touched the myth of “writing is a lonely business”, with the similarly mythified (I know it’s not a word, but is there a word in English for “forcibly made to be a myth?”) addition “it doesn’t have to be”. I remember my mother [...]

This has been time that’s more like a pond than a stream. Only, in my case, it’s been that sort of a pond that is rumored to have an abyss in its bottom, or a sunken castle, or both. I have thought much, learned much about myself, and by sheer thinking about who am I [...]

The scariest thing about having an opinion (or accomplishing something, or just being known) is that people will disagree with you and criticize you. There’s no way around it; the more people know about you the more criticism you will receive. (Sure, you can switch off the comments or never read them, but I think [...]

1. Take one moderately creepy religion/philosophy/worldview. Something that isn’t merely unacceptable or unfit for you, but something that makes you shudder every time you have to deal with it, something you would keep your kids away from, if you could. For me, it is Christianity. For you, it could be something else. 2. Take a [...]

I’ve been thinking about what literature really is, both its European and American versions (because the versions are different, and different a lot). And no, I haven’t come to a sufficient conclusion. However, I’m thinking that if literature is a healing thing, there are zillions of ways how you can heal yourself. I, for example, [...]

..or not. I am not having a writer’s block (just yesterday, after a day’s pause, five pages of comic script just semi-magically appeared and looked so fine, and I’m fine today too, thank you), and I’m not feeling afraid that the finished piece will be horrible, I am not afraid of being obscure, I am [...]

Siren’s song is released online now, so go ahead and see what I am so happy about (actually, right now I’m happy about it. I suffered a short bout of anxiety, but I made myself to reread it and figured it’s just fine). Seriously. Go ahead and read it. If you’re really curious (or Latvian) [...]