This week I’m going to send you all over to one of my all-time favorite posts (and one of my most popular, as a matter of fact), in which I explain in meticulous and even excruciating detail exactly how to go wrong in this writing life: 5 Pickles to Write… Read more“5 Pickles to Write Yourself Into”
7 Surprising Things About Blogging
So, I’ve been writing this blog since 2009, and one year I thought it was about time I shared with you all a few of the unexpected things I’ve learned during the course of it. There were some real eye-openers! To wit: Big numbers don’t always mean quality readers This… Read more“7 Surprising Things About Blogging”
3 Times I Remember Why I Do This Work
Even if [the yeast of intelligence] operates in vain, it remains evolution’s peak. . .: something to enjoy and foster as much as possible; something not to betray by succumbing to despair, however deep the many pits of darkness. —Diana Athill, Stet: An Editor’s Life Sometimes I get so involved… Read more“3 Times I Remember Why I Do This Work”
2 Ways to See Yourself Through Your Own Story
Ever since we built our house in the woods, we’ve had a momma deer living on our property. And every fall a beautiful young buck has visited her. Now, those deer are not exactly an unmixed blessing in our lives. We haven’t been able to put in a vegetable garden… Read more“2 Ways to See Yourself Through Your Own Story”
7 Reasons to Be Grateful You’re a Writer
I wrote this one day a long time ago out of sheer, overwhelming gratitude for my craft. And you know what? I’m still grateful. You have all the tools you need They’re right there at your disposal: the world, your five senses, literacy, a brain. You will never need anything… Read more“7 Reasons to Be Grateful You’re a Writer”
20 Brilliant Vintage Authors
Some time ago Sabine asked a fabulous question in the comments on Being Interviewed by Rachel X Russell: Thanks for that great interview. Your obvious love of literature is refreshing in an environment where there is too much talk about sales and marketing. Speaking of vintage mysteries, I know you… Read more“20 Brilliant Vintage Authors”
The Strangest-Ever Metaphor for Inevitability in Fiction
Today’s story is even stranger than the one about how gardening is like writing or how dancing makes the Internet humane or even me spattering glue all over myself. But it is utterly brilliant, and I never get over watching this woman doodle: DOODLING IN MATH This is someone named… Read more“The Strangest-Ever Metaphor for Inevitability in Fiction”
Remember: We’re All Lost Together
Remember, we’re all lost together, everywhere the same. —Garry Schyman, Alicia Lemke, & Matt Harding, “We’re Going to Trip the Light” Here’s another story for you all today about how life works and who we are. There’s this guy named Matt. You might know about him. He’s a perfectly ordinary… Read more“Remember: We’re All Lost <em>Together</em>”
6 Steps to Spattering Writing Like Glue All Over Yourself
Here’s my story for you guys for this week. Because I’m a storyteller: Start innocently Yesterday I was at the kitchen table while my husband baked a complicated type of Italian bread (in between bouts of gardening—the man’s a miracle). I was doing our monthly household bookkeeping, which I do… Read more“6 Steps to Spattering Writing Like Glue All Over Yourself”
5 Reasons My Cat Should Be the Writer Instead of Me
Cats don’t act as though you’re the one bright ray of sunlight in an otherwise clouded existence.—Raymond Chandler You all know my cat. He sits on my blog banner staring into space with the impassive expression of someone who is being prevented from walking on a desk that he knows… Read more“5 Reasons My Cat Should Be the Writer Instead of Me”