Can Your Writing do These 3 Things?
What we can learn from words that make us uncomfortable.
Craft
The Writer's Life
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All writers need to thrive: craft,
business, personal finance, and joy.
business, personal finance, and joy.
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Writing on Vacation
When I take any type of vacation, I try to leave all the “shoulds” of my writing life behind. Then the biggest question is, “Should I write at all on vacation?”
Pitch, Please!
Your writer senses tell you “Hey, this could be a story.” But wait! There are steps to getting your idea actually accepted.
I Hate Pitching (But I Want Fancy Bylines)
If we want those fancy bylines, we have to get past the pitch.
Put the Spirit of Summer in Your Writing
How often do you write something just for the joy of writing?
How to Get Your Writing Joy Back
Take your writing life from striving to thriving with the ultimate life hack: remembering we’re all going to die anyway.
Beat the Summer Writing Slump
We don’t want to look back in the fall and think, “Bleh, I have to start all over again!” Inertia is a b-word.
Have You Ever Considered Writing Satire?
Writing parody and satire is so fun, so refreshing, I think more writers would do it if they felt permission.
Die, Procrastination!
There is just something magical about starting your writing with a short mindfulness practice.
Facing the Beast
If you’ve taken time off from writing, it’s never as simple as just sitting down to write.
Here’s how to get back in the seat and back to business.
The Solution You Haven’t Tried…Yet.
What could happen if you committed yourself to asking, and asking everyone, until you found what you were looking for?
Belting “You Won’t Break My Soul” as a Freelance Writer
If you work now as a freelance writer, or dream of working as a freelance writer, I implore you today to pump the volume to irresponsible, and blast Beyoncé’s Break My Soul.
A Secret Weapon for Cutting Your Word Count
Writing, to me, has long been a practice of cutting.
My darlings!
Tending the Fire of Your Writing Life
It felt like the days when I’d first fallen in love with writing. During a long morning stretch on a comfy chair with a coffee,
The Olympics, “Success,” Suicide, and Self-Care
Success and well-being are two entirely different things.
What I Learned Reading The Best Women’s Travel Writing Slush Pile
Reading a slush pile can be your best education in how to write a particular genre.
Don’t Let Your Feelings Go to Waste
Ever wish there was a writing resource where you could house emotions to draw from? Enter the Feelings File.
3 Reasons I Write About Pain
One day last year, I was nearly doubled over in emotional pain, feeling directionless, asking what I should even do with all this pain. A
Craft Lessons from Sad Songs
What is it about sad songs that makes us crave them? Do we want to be sadder? Are we trying to prolong the pain? Or, just maybe, is there a glint of healing in sharing someone else’s sadness?
Gritty Travel, Persistence, and Writing Old Memories
Read or watch my conversation with Pam Mandel, author of the travel memoir The Same River Twice.
Getting Back Up After A Creative Setback
I was standing on a rock in a yard in Colombia, trying to find good reception. My friend, a novelist, was on the phone, and
5 Ideas to Cling to as Writer Living in a Pandemic
“How’s your humanity?” That’s the question we focused on when I recently had the pleasure of joining Courtney Maum and Parneshia Jones in conversation as
Now Might Be a Good Time for Those Semesters of Black Lit
“White privilege is your history being taught as a core class and mine being taught as an elective.” – Ozy Aloziem Since 2011 and until
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.