Focus and Finish with the Crown of Concentration
Here's a quick and fun way to get some more work done in close quarters with others.
How to Stuff As Much Meaning in Your Verbs As Possible
How to relay an entire simile with a verb packed with meaning.
An Ode to the Literary Bath
One of the bedrocks of a successful writing life is the full understanding that any research that needs to be done can be done in the bath.
Organizing Your Writing Life In a World of Chaos
If you're able to focus on organization right now, here are some projects that could serve you for the rest of your writing life.
How Can We Help Each Other Through?
It took me about two weeks to pick myself up off the floor. I'm still limping, rolling onto the bed, numbing out on scrolling, wine, and various high-fat items. Then…
Cooking My Way Through This
I was scrolling through Twitter like every tweet was a bump of coke, when a post by my friend Willie stopped me: The next day, I spent two hours taking…
How to Write (or Not) During the Coronavirus Outbreak
It's the time of Coronavirus, which is pretty much like the bad dystopian novel plot we all can't believe we're living. And I'll tell you what, I'm not writing that…
Everything I Know About Marketing I Definitely Did NOT Learn from AWP
“Yes!” said a young woman at the AWP conference for writers, rounding the corner to my all-the-way-in-the-back-corner booth. “This is where those stickers are coming from!” It was the last…
Writers Get Wild: Creating Your Own Self-Run Writing Retreat
My rent is $350 for the next three months, and I can't tell whether it's that or the physical space around me, trees instead of buildings, cows instead of crowds,…
10 Things I’ve Learned in 10 Years of Writing the Personal Essay
From my first essay nearly published a decade ago to the viral essay that got a million readers to the little goof essays I write now, here are 10 things I've learned about writing powerful personal essays
Your Writing Career Will Not Survive on “Please”
We stood on a closed-off street at a music festival, near midnight, third or fourth beers in hand, when the musicians on stage stopped in between songs to say, "Thanks…
The Most Important Thing Most Writers Never Do
I'd be driving and think, "Oh damn it, I never followed up with Susan." I'd be shopping and realize it had been six months since that editor offered to read…
Why I’m Learning Grammar: Grammar Foundations Class Review
My coaching student scoffed. "Why are you learning grammar?" A part of me was with her, scoffing at grammar that meant memorizing latinate words. Grammar that was removed by the spectacles…
5 Ways to Write The Cliché Experience Fresh
I’m looking up Narratively’s instructions on how to pitch, and I see this from their editor, Lilly Dancyger: “In case you’re wondering, here are some other done-to-death tropes that I…
Everything a Writer Needs to Thrive: Craft, Business Skills, Personal Finance, & Joy
When I decided to start a blog as a follow-up to my book Welcome to the Writer's Life, I knew I needed to focus. Who is this blog serving, and…
Conferences are Essential (and Expensive)
In 2018, I went to six conferences, which is, according to my bank account, too many conferences. Today I have a new podcast episode out with Clint Proctor, about how…
The Luxuries of Freelance Writing Life
My favorite music genre being Sad Guy With A Guitar And a Story To Tell, my favorite band is naturally Bon Iver. They're coming to play at The Gorge, my…
10 Office Supplies Every Writer Needs at Home
I don't know why it took me so long to realize I could buy things for my home that I'd only used in offices or school. Oh yeah, duh. You…
Why (And How) We Should Talk About Money
Every month, I have a dinner party where we talk about the most forbidden of fruits as far as conversation topics go: money. We eat a homemade, collective meal while…
All the Tools I Use To Run My Freelance Writing Business in 2019
I bartered with another business owner to help her design her systems, and we were deciding which electronic signing service to go with. It took us two hours. We still…
Bria, How Did You Save Up To Write For A Year?
On the latest episode of my podcast, I get to talk with my coaching student, Bria, about how she saved up to take a year off to write. While she…
How To Compost Artistic Envy Into Inspiration
I am feeling feelings about Kristen Arnett's book, Mostly Dead Things, an absolutely fabulous and hilarious novel set in Florida. Psst: This site uses affiliate links. Hey Paulette, weren't you…
Using Affiliate Links, Feeling Kinda Weird About It
As we walked down the beach one day, my mom and I saw two anchored boats cracking against each other in the waves. One had broke loose of its rope.…
Read This to Learn That: Tara Conklin’s “The Last Romantics” and The Family Saga
I just finished Tara Conklin’s book The Last Romantics on a plane, and I wanted to call, “Attention: People in the emergency row. Have you read this book? You must,…