Category: How To and Tips
When Empathy Gets in the Way By L.S. Stratton
When Empathy Gets in the Way By L.S. Stratton I’d only been covering her case for three days, and I was already having nightmares. She was fifteen when she was murdered. According to her friends, she was well liked though not particularly outgoing. She’d given a shy smile at the camera in her high school […]
FICTION AS A CULINARY ART By Christina Hamlett
FICTION AS A CULINARY ART By Christina Hamlett I was in elementary school when I first realized there was a correlation between cooking and my favorite hobby—reading. I couldn’t really have told you who was bringing all these wonderful tomes to the neighborhood bookmobile every week; like meals at our house, they simply appeared when […]
How my Apparel Sales Career led to a Writing gig
I had always envisioned a career as a journalist, but life had other plans. Right after my college graduation, our family had an emergency while my apparel sales rep dad was at a trade show in Atlanta. When no one from his companies could cover for him so he could attend to the emergency, dad […]
Michelle Cruz: On Writing
If I’m honest, it’s Tom Clancy and John Grisham’s faults. Although they weren’t exactly approved authors in my ultra-conservative upbringing, at least they weren’t forbidden. But there were few women, and—especially in Tom Clancy’s case—they were tangential to the plot, barely mentioned, and often more of a footnote. So in all the audacity of my […]
The Book of Nature: An Offhand Beginning
The Book of Nature: An Offhand Beginning by Barbara Mahany Every book has its backstory, and my most recent, The Book of Nature: The Astonishing Beauty of God’s First Sacred Text (Broadleaf Books, March 21, 2023), is one that began in the unlikeliest of ways. There I was, a half-hour deep into a radio talk […]
High Tide in the Redwoods: Memoir, Migration and This Wilderness in My Blood
High Tide in the Redwoods: Memoir, Migration and This Wilderness in My Blood By Terra Trevor My bags were packed, boxes stacked, and escrow was closing. We were downsizing, and moving from the city where we lived for the past forty-three years. We didn’t have a new house to move into, not yet. While we […]
There’s No “Magic Formula” to Write a Book
There’s No “Magic Formula” to Write a Book I wish I could give you a magic formula for how to write a book. That if you have the perfect morning routine, follow the Artist’s Way, or join the right writers’ group, then bam, it will happen. A book will appear, and it will be a […]
Vannetta Chapman: My Writing Process
It seems to me that any piece that discusses the writing process has to begin with a very important caveat. Everyone’s process is different. That’s not merely a disclaimer, it’s true. Art works that way. Every artist is unique in their approach to their art. Every work of art is distinctive. So, it makes sense […]
How to be Jealous
The other day, I saw an announcement for a writer who got a multi-book deal for a series she’d self-published. I felt jealous. And you know what? I loved it. Jealousy gets a bad rap, but I believe it’s often a glittering gift, because it tells us what we want. In my case, I love […]
9 THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER SAY TO A WRITER
9 things you should never say to a writer Last week I spent at a writing retreat in Rhode Island. Airbnb, great company, lots of walks, incredible talks, and ridiculous amounts of work done. I got the structure down (and several essays too) for my upcoming book. I, personally, am a big fan of going […]
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