A Hot Date with Some Lit Mag Submissions
Spending an evening submitting is less like a day at work and more like a hot date, minus the sex and human connection. 🤷‍♀️
How to Find the Right Lit Mag for You
Every writer should be reading both the best and the most accessible literary magazines. Here's how.
Buying Your Freedom to Be a Writer
I landed at the house of Vicki Robin in early February. The plan was that I, in between apartments, would live in
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
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:
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
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
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,
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
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
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
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,
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
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
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.
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
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:
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
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
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
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
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
Obsession
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: John Hodgman
Like Will Ferrell or Amy Sedaris, it seemed like John Hodgman was creating a new kind of humor. We had no idea
Read This to Learn That: Gaby Dunn’s “Bad with Money” and Starting as a Writer from Nothing
One thing I know about the writing life is that you get better at the thing by doing it. I started out
Why a Writer Might Want to Care About Frugality
I’m doing Liz Frugalwoods’ Uber-frugal challenge this month, and I don’t like it. I mean, I like her and her challenge, but
I Don’t Want to Be Frugal, But I Want to Be a Writer
It’s spending season. The sun shines upon Seattlites at University Village as I run to the Amazon book store, because it’s the
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: Michelle Obama
Is there anyone classier, smarter, and more of a person I might be tempted to put a photo of on my mantel
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: Anthony Bourdain
Before my trip to South America, I looked for places he’d been. I had 24 hours in Cali in Colombia, and he’d
10 Beach Reads
“In my mind, a beach read is something that’s “unputdownable,” whatever that means to you,” says Susan Kehoe, managing partner of Browseabout
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith is kind of everything you ever want to be. I’m in love with this short story I heard her read
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: Amy Schumer
As you know, Amy Schumer is ridiculous. I consider her my long-lost third sister. Not only does she have her book, The
Read This to Learn That: Nature Writing
I’ve only once fallen in love with a piece of land, and I’ve been trying to write about it for a decade.
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: Roxane Gay
Roxane Gay was sitting outside Hugo House one night when I went to a reading. My friend Jessica and I chatted with
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: George Saunders
George Saunders is an uber-favorite: kind, brilliant, hard-working. I’ve never met anyone who said a bad word about him, and he was
Tools to Write Without Distraction
You know that feeling like you want to just head out to a cabin in the woods and just write? Well you
The Next Books I’m Buying for My Writing Business
The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone Ask by Ryan Levesque Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port Getting Things Done by David Allen
Read This to Learn That: Free Indirect Discourse in “A Changed Man”
There’s a style of third-person in fiction that frees up your narrator to let the characters indirectly share their thoughts, without all
Show Your Work: How I Finally Got Published in McSweeney’s
Here’s how I got into McSweeney’s: 1. I submitted about 10 pieces over the last 10 years. 2. I joined a group
10 of My Favorite Seattle Writers
When you get live in a certain place, you get to know the writers who aren’t necessarily the biggest names (though some
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: Susan Orlean
Susan Orlean is a force. The author of The Library Book, The Orchid Thief, and Rin Tin Tin. I once got to
Most Helpful Kitchen Items
Little suction cup hooks!
10 Tools Writers Need for a Healthy Workspace
If you want to be a writer, you want to be writing for the rest of your life. As someone who’s had
10 Books of Poetry for People Who Aren’t “Poetry People”
When you think of poetry, you probably think of the things that come up when I looked for stock images for “poetry.”
10 Books George Saunders Loves
I’m so mad I just found this list. I was thinking about how people should search out the favorite books of their