by Cherie Tucker
June 2016
ILately I’ve heard way too many professional people say, “That’s a whole nother thing.” I’ve talked to you about this before, but it was way back in May of 2011, so let’s take a look back and see what else you might have forgotten.
Read Moreby Anna Kaehler
June 2016
Writing takes courage and vulnerability, as well as a healthy dose of tender faith every time we approach the page. It is a lot like falling in love. A few months ago, I would have compared the query process more to online dating. If writing was loving, querying was testing that love in the face of overwhelming odds.
Read Moreby Cherie Tucker
May 2016
I got a call last week asking if there might be a word to use that allows you to avoid using the “he/she” business with nouns that are singular but stand for a group. Sadly there isn’t such a word, but there is a way out.
Read Moreby Noelle Sterne
May 2016
The rejection experience I’m about to relate was the kind of marvel you may read about and say, “Yeah, yeah, okay for you. It could never happen to me.” That’s what I used to think . . .
It All Started . . .
Read Moreby Rosemary Richings
May 2016
I had my first experience with writer’s block when I was only sixteen years old. Then I found Writer’s Block for Dummies in abookstore. The first chapter was the best part. It was a psychological overview of writer’s block and its causes. It was also jam-packed with freewriting exercises.
Read Moreby Jennifer Paros
May 2016
My youngest son was diagnosed as autistic years ago. There’s no blood test or scans for autism; the conclusion is behaviorally based. A person is observed and if he exhibits enough patterns that are considered markers of the condition, we give him the label. Early on, his neurologist was frustrated when other professionals inferred our son was autistic.
Read MoreBy Emily-Jane Hills Orford
April 2016
I often thought, in my younger years, that it would be an easy thing to be a writer. I had the ideas; I had the imagination. All I had to do was put pen to paper, as one would say in the pre-computer era. And why not? Others did it. In fact, some authors pushed out novels, bestselling novels at that, at an amazing rate.
Read Moreby Cherie Tucker
April 2016
Anyone who was taught by the nuns knew that “you always use the possessive with a gerund,” the -ing form of a verb used as a noun. And for those of you still scratching your head, the underlined words here are gerunds:
Read Moreby Nicole Rollender
April 2016
I straddle both sides of the writing fence, first as a B2B magazine editor and poetry editor for a publishing house, and second as a freelance writer and poet. As a poetry editor who’s looking for manuscript gems in the slush pile, I can’t tell you how important it is for creative writers to follow guidelines, and submit with care.
Read Moreby Jennifer Paros
April 2016
There is a well-worn phrase: “Hang in there!” It’s meant as encouragement for those of us encountering difficult times. Sometimes it’s even accompanied by a picture of a kitten hanging from a branch. Though the intention is encouragement, the expression doesn’t provide much information.
Read Moreby Karis Rogerson
March 2016
In the end, it will be words that save me.
All my life, when I’ve felt darkness hovering over my shoulders, I’ve turned to words to make sense of the confusion. I have folders on my computer chock-full of poems and prose poems I wrote when I was overcome by depression.
Read Moreby Jennifer Paros
March 2016
Years ago, a friend told me she felt nervous driving on highways, and so had eradicated them from her navigational plans. Though she seemed satisfied with her solution, I was wary of it.
My first year in college, I was uncomfortable leaving campus alone, and fell to always arranging grocery shopping or mall trips with friends.
Read Moreby Alyssa Colton
March 2016
We all walk around with voices in our head telling us what’s right and what’s wrong. It can be difficult to separate out useful feedback and advice from negative messages, but it’s crucial to notice those messages that get in the way of our creative work.
Read Moreby Cherie Tucker
March 2016
Because St. Patrick’s Day is approaching, I thought we could use a little review of apostrophes. Remember, apostrophes stand in for missing letters. If you change I am to I’m, the apostrophe holds the place of the letter a. That’s easy to see. I will becomes I’ll, with the apostrophe standing in for two letters, wi. But some are not so obvious.
Read Moreby Cherie Tucker
February 2016
We’ve talked about this before, but it’s been a long time, so here’s a review. The rule is that pronouns must agree with the word they are standing in for (called the antecedent when you were in school)
Read Moreby Jennifer Paros
February 2016
The Inner Critic is psychology shorthand for all the crappy things you think about yourself – a discouraging imaginary figure with a penchant for diminishing commentary. Though we created this idea and even named it, we have not bothered to imagine its opposite.
Read MoreStar LaBranche
February 2016
By the end of 2007 I was halfway through my senior year of college. I was studying at Mary Baldwin and planning on graduating with an English degree the following May. My world, however, was imploding.
Read Moreby Joan Frank
February 2016
It's happened to most writers by the time they're hip-deep in the game.
Some personal catastrophe, instant and absolute as a meteor crushing your house – something that reads like an insurance policy exemption.
Read Moreby Jennifer Paros
January 2016
I had just gone grocery shopping and, at the request of my teenage son, bought a new kind of cereal. When I returned home, I mentioned it to my husband, showed him the box, and put it away. But by evening I could not find the cereal. I searched everywhere, including neighboring cabinets and places that didn’t make sense.
Read MoreKate Evans
January 2016
Years ago—via the work of Gabriele Rico, Natalie Goldberg, Anne Lamott, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi—I learned about the right brain vs. left brain, the creator vs. the critic, the writing of the shitty first draft, the generative power of flow. These concepts helped me a lot as a writer.
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