Sometimes you have a flat tire, real or symbolic, and a planned writing session doesn’t happen. Sometimes you are“stuck” and have to think awhile on a solution for the corner you’ve written yourself into. Life gets busy and other responsibilities take precedence. Or a host of other daily intrusions muscle into your schedule. This is not what I’m […]

Jami Gold Writing is often about finding a balance. Too much left in subtext can lead to confusion. Too much explanation can feel like an info dump or be too "on the nose." Etc., etc. With our characters, if we want our protagonists to seem heroic, they need to have strong traits. Yet at the same time, if […]

by Susan Spann “Mentor” was the tutor Odysseus placed in charge of his son, Telemachus, before departing on his now-famous odyssey across a mythological version of ancient Greece. Since Homer’s day, the word has come to mean an advisor who comes alongside a less-experienced person to offer help, education, and guidance. Mentorships exist in almost […]

Confession: I’ve never really bought into the muse idea or writer’s block for that matter. For me, it’s always been a case of “idea in, words out.” As I was finishing up the last WIP, I started brainstorming new projects. There were four stories I wanted to tell, but one in particular really intrigued me. […]

by Jessica Strawser I’ve had a lot of babies in the past few years. Two of them are novels (one out on submission with my agent, the other in late revision stages). Dozens of them are magazines I’ve put my heart into at my day job as editor of Writer’s Digest. And two of them […]