Should You Write “to the Market”?
Knowing what you want in this business is one of the most important factors in creating a writing career that…
Writing life
“Seeing Myself *Like* Myself Is Pretty Damn Good”
It’s always a little surprising when we hear that people we admire, or who have achieved success by standard metrics,…
How to Talk to Anyone about Your Writing (or Anything)
Whether it’s at writing events with other authors, or you’re pitching your work to agents and editors, or talking about…
When the World Sucks Your Creativity: Zoom In and Zoom Out
If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here. This morning I received an email from…
Reclaiming Your Time
If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here. Over dinner with friends the other night,…
Doing What You Have to Do
How much of our lives do we regard as items on our to-do list? We often speak of obligations, responsibilities,…
You Have to Make Choices and They All Have a Cost
As creatives we are constantly facing choices—many of them in our art blessedly malleable, at least until we’ve published our…
You Don’t Have to Do This Alone
There’s a time-honored, romantic image of authors: the solitary genius who lives within the rich worlds in their heads, pecking…
Is It Worth It?
Recently I worked with an author on a first-chapters critique of the opening 50 pages of her manuscript. After our…
Hope and Action: Fuel for the Fire
Authors are often the purveyors of hope. We are the ones who explore human nature and draw people together through…