Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

  Are you the kind of person who dwells on the past? We all do it to an extent. Some of us more than others. But have you ever found yourself getting stuck in a groove, replaying a mistake in your mind, over and over, ten, twenty, even thirty years after the fact? You know the old maxim: "You get what you focus on." Has it occurred to you that when you dwell on past mistakes, you're setting up yourself to fail - again? We all make mistakes. That's why there's a delete key on your computer. If everything we did was perfect first time out, our lives would be bland and most likely, unmemorable. Our mistakes, our errors in judgment, our embarrassing interludes, help us grow and learn and become wise. But replaying them in our minds, cringing and wishing they'd worked out differently is a surefire way of ensuring the same kind of result in the future. Don't Make Excuses Have you ever noticed that most people have a hundred reasons why they shouldn...

  The joy of being a writer is that you can spend a lot of time at home, safe in your own little world, trying to create something meaningful and communicate through the best way possible, that is: through words on a page. Many writers choose this career because either a) they're shy or b) they prefer their own company anyway or c) the world seems a crazy mixed up place that doesn't need much of their involvement. I've spent time in the past with large groups of people who desperately need each other's company - and often - to even begin to function. I've known unfortunate souls that cry unceasingly when they have no friends to call on, or live in torment until they can chat with another. It's called being gregarious, apparently. Thankfully, like most writers, I'm not so afflicted. I've always liked my own company - even when I craved fame in my twenties. I used to forsake the local bars in preference to my guitar or my notebook. Many...

    This week I'm going  to do the one thing that modern physicists apparently hate most - to try and equate quantum mechanics with self help. I say 'modern'  because before Sir Isaac Newton, scientists included lots of free thinking alchemists and philosophers who saw no conflict in mixing metaphysics with scientific practice and experimentation. Ironically, Newton himself wrote more about astrology, numerology and alchemy than he ever did about gravity. You'd think that scientists everywhere would learn from his example. Anyway, recently I've been reading a lot about the latest theories on quantum mechanics - you know, all that stuff that says that at the smallest point of existence, there seems to be nothing rational going on - nothing we can record 'properly' anyway. It seems nowadays quantum physicists are a sullen lot. They want to keep all this mind-blowing good stuff to themselves. They've not only discovered that reality is really just a collect...