My response:

Well, I’m an angsty person to begin with, so I’m not sure if I can answer objectively. Subjectively, however, I’d say, yeah, but only to a certain extent. You can’t let angst suck you in like quicksand. But I think you need at least some angst to feel things deeply. Deep’s important because the best writing has depth to it, even if it’s fairly dry.

What’s your response?

Here are two great primers on how, thanks to the Internet, people like you and me are changing the rules for how we learn, shop, communicate, collaborate — and publish — without having to ask permission, jump through hoops or toe the line. These books will give you a kick-ass attitude about controlling your creative fate.

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams

The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson

Haikus are a form of Japanese poetry arranged in three lines, each with a set number of syllables (first line 5, second line 7, third line 5). Write a haiku for or about writers and/or writing.

Example:

My laptop just crashed
No backup of my novel
I will hang myself

There is a period of life when we go backwards as we advance.
— Jean Jacques Rousseau

And so it is with writing.

Sometimes we have to step back, take a deep breath, think a bit. It’s our way of gaining the strength and perspective we need to move our work forward.

Make up and define a word. Start from scratch or combine existing words.

Example:

Fannytastic — Noun; someone with sensational buns.