Recent Articles
On Rejection in the Life of a Writer
Lately I have been immersed in the work of submitting a novel to potential agents. It is a long and tedious process but a process that is necessary if one wants to become traditionally published. And because it has always been a dream of mine, I have spent the last...
How to Trade Lonely Art for Community Art
This week my husband and I spent three days at a creative conference. Mostly it was designers and illustrators, no writers at all, but still it was amazing to be in a place with so many other creative people and admire their work from the sidelines. And then. On the...
Rest is a Necessary Part of the Creative Process
“I wish I didn’t have so much to write this week,” I said. It was exhaustion speaking, since I haven’t slept in days because of pregnancy-related discomfort. And it’s Christmas, so it’s a short week and I still have gifts to finish and wrap, and all of that hangs over...
Constraints in Creativity: Are They a Good Thing?
Several years ago I began a project with a photographer friend who, every week, sent me a picture, and I would write exactly 40 words about it—some condensed make-believe situation that I could “see” in the picture. I pinned a 15-minute time constraint on the creative...
6 Practices that Will Guarantee More Time to Read
I usually make it my goal to read between 130 and 150 books every year. I don’t know that I’ll make that goal this year, because I’ve started doing some online courses to learn more about building a writing career, and that eats into the time I’ve set aside for...
On Finding Your Unique Voice as a Writer
As writers, we hear a whole lot of talk about this “voice” thing. What is voice? How do you find it? When do you know you’ve found it? Well, unfortunately, I can’t tell you exactly what it is. What it’s not, though, is somewhat easier to identify: What voice is not:...
Am I an Interesting Enough Person to Write Personal Essays?
Personal essays—we see them all the time out in cyber-space. We read about how this person went to the store yesterday and met a woman there who said something that annoyed them or hurt them or made them feel sad, and now they’re trying to air their feelings. We read...
Write a GREAT Book Even When Your Time is Limited
