LK Lohan

Self-help Doesn’t Work

Self-help doesn’t work – until you’re ready to hear the message. To use another cliché: The teacher will come when the student is ready. The self-help field is often maligned as pop psychology, but it does the job for those of us who like the summarized, pre-digested version as a starting-point for further research. And, often enough, the short version is sufficient for our needs. The field of self-help is as vast as people’s “issues”. If a particular issue isn’t an issue for you, well, you get to skip that section of the bookshelf. Just make sure that you don’t Read More …

LK Lohan

Meditation for Writers

Meditation for writers is really meditation for life. For many years now, I’ve been fascinated with meditation. And whenever something interests me, guess what: I read whole shelves of books on the topic. Most instructional meditation books agree that it can be as simple as following your breath. They also tell you that your mind will wander and that thoughts and emotions will arise. And then they’ll tell you that you just have to let them drift by like clouds on a sunny day and gently let them go. After a few weeks, it will become second nature. Um. No. Read More …

LK Lohan

Writer’s Block, Impostor Syndrome, and Rejection Anxiety

Writer’s block, impostor syndrome, and rejection anxiety. The unholy trinity of every writer. Or so we are led to believe. Reading writerly blogs or articles sometimes make them sound like prerequisites to calling yourself a writer. Well, no. You can’t call yourself a writer. Because that would make you feel like an impostor. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that these feelings aren’t awful and all-too-real for some people. It’s the generalization that I object to, especially in publications geared towards aspiring writers. The results can be absurd. I once took a workshop at my local library, where Read More …

LK Lohan

Bullet Journaling for Efficiency

Productivity and efficiency fiend that I am, I’m always on the lookout for new tweaks to strengthen my systems. A couple of years ago I stumbled across bullet journaling. These days, Instagram is full of people showcasing their stunningly beautiful journals. The illustrated portfolios of their life. Me, I have trouble drawing a straight line, and my handwriting is the opposite of calligraphy. Hieroglyphics, before the Rosetta Stone. No pretty pages for me; just a simple productivity tool. How the System Works The original system at its most basic involves capturing to-dos, appointments, thoughts, notes, and events in daily bulleted Read More …

LK Lohan

Communication in the Age of Distraction

We still read and often admire the correspondence between thinkers and writers of old. Before electronic communication came along, writing letters was the only way of exchanging thoughts, transmitting information, getting and giving feedback, or just plain keeping up with what was happening in the lives of faraway family and friends. Weeks and sometimes months would go by before you received an answer. I can only imagine the joy and anticipation, maybe mixed with a little dread, people would feel at finding a letter in their mailbox; how they would savor reading and re-reading it, just to prolong the experience. Read More …