Category: How To and Tips
Keeping Going
Like so many writers, my journey to publication was long and winding. I love telling the story because it’s the kind of story that would have given me hope back then, in my trying-to-get-published years. It started with an MA in Creative Writing in 2004. Of course, it started long before that, really, with an […]
Women Need To Write About Sex
By Heather M. First, I should disclose that I am an artist and writer that has spent the last five years creating art with a purpose. And that purpose is to engage people with thoughts, ideas, and perspectives of how female identifying individuals engage in sex and sexuality. It is my personal belief that women […]
COMING OF AGE: A Mature Writer Adapting In The 21st Century
We’ve all been asked this question as we progress through time: What do you want to be when you grow up? No matter who asked, no matter what stage of life I was in, I always had the same answer: to be a published author. Armed with that infatuation, I never faltered or changed my […]
Calming My Demons: How Writing My Novel Unexpectedly Helped My Recovery
Ten years ago, I quit my job, sold the house and left the country. I was moving to France where, I decided, I would become a writer. This was despite a distinct lack of evidence that I had the skill, notwithstanding (or perhaps entirely exemplified by) the heartfelt journals, enthusiastic attempts at poetry and first […]
Need some Writing Motivation? Try Spinning. No. Really.
I’m a writer, but sometimes I trade my sweatpants for padded Lycra shorts, switch out my mug of tea for a water bottle, shed my Joan Didion seriousness and blast Pitbull in the spin room. I bark into my microphone for riders on stationary bikes to “Go! Grab it! Dig in!” I correct form and […]
What Running a Bookshop Taught Me About Writing
What Running a Bookshop Taught Me About Writing By Natalie Jenner Four years ago, I realized my lifelong dream of opening a small bookshop near the shore of Lake Ontario, in an idyllic and vibrant downtown community. For someone who had long ago given up trying to get published, yet still craved a way to […]
Seven Things I’ve Learned In My First Six Months Of Being A Full-Time Writer
I’ve been a writer for a long time. I tried to write novels on and off in my twenties, and returned to it when I discovered the joys of writing historical fiction in my forties. I was fortunate to have six historical novels published by the big 5 from 2005-2012. When my publishing career went […]
Writing While Mother
I am writing this sitting at the dining room table. Just a few yards away my two oldest kids, aged seven and four, are watching a movie in the living room. Even though the volume is down relatively low, the superhero sound effects keep distracting me; even more distracting is my son, who keeps padding […]
Why Coaching Helps my Writing Life
I’ve always loved the process of coaching – how quickly clients can see the benefits, how action-focused it is, and how certain results are surprising. I trained as a Life Coach fifteen years ago, and for the last few years have been working solely with writers as a writing coach and tutor. Being a life-long […]
The Stories That Make Us: Finding Your Voice by Virginia Kantra
I’ve been thinking a lot about retellings. What we remember about beloved classics isn’t only the original text, but how we felt the first time we fell into the story. I will always hear Huckleberry Finn read aloud in my mother’s voice from the summer shadows. The Last Unicorn is scented with dust and Lysol […]
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