I coach writers who are stuck. Yesterday, the writer I coached was…me. As you may remember from my post about it back in December, I’m writing my first book. It’s a short, friendly guide for nonfiction authors on what editors do, how to find a good one, and how to get the most out of […]

For #feedyourwritingfriday, a suggestion from Lydia Davis to build quiet time onto the end of your writing session so your brain can continue to noodle with your ideas and you’ll be available to catch anything comes forth. Note that for her, this time isn’t a do-nothing time—it could overlap with doing dishes or laundry or taking […]

Pre-pandemic, my partner and I loved to host. He’s an academic; most of our friends at the time were, too. Every semester I’d watch their gripe-o-meters and stress-o-meters nudge higher and higher until, by grading time, my friends were little more than exhausted, groaning husks of themselves. So we applied our love of hosting to […]

Today’s #feedyourwritingfriday: If you want to start the new year with a big hug for your creative writing, try Before You Begin with Heidi Fiedler. You won’t find a more generous, warm-hearted, and honest guide to the challenges of holding onto creative work while also parenting and juggling all the challenges of life. She’s offering […]

Today’s #feedyourwritingfriday: A 25% off sale on Writing the Other courses, recommended by trusted colleague Tanya Gold.

Today’s #feedyourwritingfriday: This newsletter from author Alix E. Harrow (of Ten Thousand Doors of January fame) is marvelous writing in and of itself but also gives delicious food for thought on writing with/from bodies…or not. Read it here.

I’ve been thinking a lot about rhythm and timing lately. I’m posing these questions simply as an invitation for you to think about them, too. It’s easier to imagine being inventive and playful with rhythm in fiction than in nonfiction, but why should fiction writers (and readers) get all the fun? What would this video’s timing look […]

How do you feel about your writing—and how does writing make you feel—when it’s going well? For me, it feels like a delicious gathering of power, an accumulation of kinetic energy. A little like this, or this: Conversely, why and when does your writing stutter out? What does it feel like? What have you done […]

You have only twenty minutes of writing time today but spend the first five remembering what you did yesterday. You’re overwhelmed and paralyzed when your hands hit the keyboard. You lose the thread of ideas from day to day, feeling momentum leaching out of the process like air out of a tire.  You poke around […]