In 2021, I set out to write a book that had slowly been forming in my head for years. I work in creating affordable housing, and I’d always wanted a book I could leave behind with community groups, policymakers, and the like. Developing affordable housing is complicated and full of obscure jargon, but it’s all learnable. I wanted to write a book that would demystify what affordable housing is, how it works, what we’ve tried, and what is necessary to fix this housing crisis.
Read MoreWhen I first buckled down to seriously pursue my writing journey in my mid-20s, I had no intention of writing short stories. I wanted to pen the next great fantasy series, something akin to George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire or Joe Abercrombie's The First Law Trilogy. What I discovered is that such series are tremendously difficult to create, especially as a newbie. Nevertheless, I persevered, and my writing improved, albeit at a slow rate.
Read MoreOft-quoted Virginia Woolf famously expressed her opinion that “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” Most writers remember the section of her quotation regarding the needed room—a place for creation, a sanctuary for expression, an atelier for sundry artistic pursuits. I agree. (I also concur with the part about having an income.)
Read MoreI write memoirs and sometimes my recollections are a bit hazy. I find that props help provide clarity. The publishing industry is rife with books and online writing classes that offer prompts to prime the creative juices. While writing prompts are useful exercises that may lead to deeper reflection, I love writing props to stimulate memories and jump-start the narrative.
Read MoreI participated in a reading at a bookstore to promote a writing group’s latest anthology of fiction. My niche remains the inspirational and humorous non-fiction narrative although I’ve penned novels.
Read MoreHave you ever done a ton of research for an article? Have you ever wished you could do more with that research? Research is time-consuming, and if you’re like me, you find other interesting topics to check out that lead down those dreaded rabbit holes. If you’re wise, you will use that research to the fullest and turn out more than one article, story, or listicle to get the most money for your work. Don’t be afraid to recycle and repurpose to fit the needs of multiple publications.
Read MoreOur purpose in writing nonfiction with a historical element is to inform and to entertain our target audience. That delicate balance is the challenge of creative nonfiction. How do we ensure that when we share colorful stories from the past we still apply the highest standards of accuracy available to us? This was the balance I aimed for after I had researched and photographed forty locations for my book ‘Paranormal Gloucestershire.’
Read MoreAs I wrapped up my first manuscript back in 2011, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do afterward, besides start shopping it for publication. From a young age, I’ve always wanted to finish what I start before I move onto anything else. People have even poked fun at my strategic way of eating each part of a meal one-by-one, with a swig of my drink in between. When it came to my writing pursuits, however, I realized that kind of approach could hamper my progress. As much as I wished I’d find a publisher right away, I knew that wasn’t likely, so I could spend years twiddling my thumbs until it happened. And what if I never received an acceptance letter? Would I give up on my dream just because my first attempt never took off?
Read MoreSecondary characters are the ones that crop up repeatedly in a narrative and actually influence the course of the story. Unlike with tertiary characters, who only appear in one or two scenes for a very specific purpose, you should know almost as much about your secondary characters as your main character — even if you don’t share it all with your readers. (That said, if your secondary character gains traction, you might get the chance to tell their full story in a spin-off.)
Read MoreAbout six months ago, I began a new daily writing practice. It’s deliriously simple, and it has fundamentally changed the way I think about writing as an act. It has also transformed my actual writing.
The practice is this: each day, I brainstorm one new fiction or creative nonfiction concept.
Like I said, it’s deliriously simple. Its simplicity is, I believe, key to its success. Its results have been profound.
Read MoreI never aspired to write books. Real writers wrote books. I was a screenwriter. I wrote scenes and dialogue. I didn’t want to wrestle with paragraphs and chapters. Leave that for the New York literati, I thought.
Read MoreSerendipity led me to serve as a judge for a state-wide writing contest. A friend had spoken of volunteering to do that kind of work, and we talked about giving back to the writing community. A month later, in a different city, I heard about a contest looking for volunteer judges. I applied and was accepted; I hoped I was ready.
Read MorePsst! Any Victoria’s Secret model can testify that less is more. Less clothing; more ogling. Less caloric intake; more ogling. Less talk (only strut); more ogling.
Read MoreIt’s good not to take oneself too seriously. I know this, but sometimes my thoughts and ruminations don’t show that I apply this mantra.
The other day an editor of an e-newsletter rejected an essay I’d sent her by telling me that the piece “sort of irritates” her, and that if it irritated her, it would irritate her readers. She asserted I was “shooting at other people” while “patting myself on the back.” Of course, I hadn’t viewed my article like that! I became peeved at what I thought was harsh, unfair, and mean-spirited commentary. “Why not just say the usual? ‘This isn’t for us. No thank you.’?”
At any rate, I mulled over her remarks for a while. Then, I got back to my life. My neighbor told me her brother had to have seven liters of fluid drawn off his stomach. I called her the following day to see how things were with him, and he was better. I asked about her day. She said she’d gone to a new hairdresser, one that another friend had tried recently and had been pleased with since the haircut made her pal look years younger. “How did it work out for you?” I asked.
Read MoreAs a “mature” woman I still find myself stumbling through life like a camel wearing stilettoes in the desert. As a writer I’ve learned to put life’s blisters, sink holes, and sandstorms to good use. I’ve been doing it for years, have earned from it.
One of my earliest blisters related to money - lack of it obviously. I was living in the UK then, being threatened with seven days imprisonment for overdue non-payment of council tax. I was a young, single mum of four children, the oldest was 10. I owed £27.16p. I had £0.68p in my bank account.
The thought of a whole week of undisturbed sleep and bed space plus three meals a day that I hadn’t had to buy, prepare and wash up, appealed, as did the opportunities for uninterrupted adult conversations and free training classes. A bonus would be - providing I made it out alive - a dramatic life experience to write about.
Read MoreWriting is my pleasure, my compulsion, and an important way for me to communicate with the world. I’m not recommending that you adopt my writing process; it’s a bit erratic. Nor am I touting it as some stellar method of producing major literary work. I’m only describing a way I’ve found to meld writing and farming together.
Read MoreWhen I first arrived in Beijing in the mid-2000s, armed with a press secretary’s résumé and a head full of Capitol Hill talking points, I thought I understood how stories worked. I believed narratives were tools to shape opinions, arguments to be won. But China, in its relentless, humming complexity, had other plans. It was in a cramped, smog-cloaked alleyway near the Bookworm bookstore—a place I’d later immortalize in my memoir Beijing Bound—that I learned the hardest lesson of my writing life: sometimes, the most powerful stories aren’t the ones you tell, but the ones you finally learn to hear.
Read MoreMy family occasionally prays down by the Mississippi River with the Nibi walkers, a group of Indigenous women and water-tenders. Water is life, so we plant our feet in the sand and offer thanks. One morning, the Anishinaabe elder Sharon Day translated her prayer for us: “Great Spirit, Gitchi Manitou, have pity on us.” At her feet was a quilt, a copper bowl of river water, a shell cupping burnt sage. Behind her the river eddied and flowed. “All of creation existed without us,” she explained, “and will exist after us. We are dependent on creation. We’re dependent on the web of life. It is not dependent on us.” Humans are mighty, yes, but also small and helpless, and remembering this is good.
Read MoreBefore writing for teens, I worked with them as a high school educator. Though I left teaching to focus on raising a family, the guiding principles I relied on as a teacher continue to inform my approach to writing and editing for young adults: authenticity, respect, and hope.
Before we get into specifics, a quick reminder: while young adult literature is popular among college students and older adults, teens are your target audience. If you’re writing or editing a YA novel, they should be top of mind. Growing teens face physical, mental, social, and emotional changes that can often feel confusing and overwhelming. Teens’ schedules are also increasingly busy, as is the very real pressure to perform - a pressure that’s only increased with the advent of social media.
Read MoreI was born in the city but grew up in the country where I discovered that words could take me beyond my five senses. That insight began on a hike in the woods with my father. We had stopped to watch bees buzzing around wildflower along the trail. I knew the bees were gathering honey but wondered what else was going on. When we got home, my curiosity led me to a library where I discovered it wasn't a one-way affair. Those flowers were gathering pollen from the bees. It was fun to watch bees buzzing from flower to flower, but it was reading words in a book that transformed my watching into understanding. Bees do things to flowers, flowers do things to bees, and words do things to me, so I want to do things with words.
Now, with the years piled on top of each other like pages in a book, I'm more aware of why I write and why it matters. Some reasons are personal and some are public, but they all stem from my desire to do something with words. And knowing the reasons helps me identify my intended readers and how I can reach them. Each of my reasons has a different audience—me when the reason is personal and others when the reason is public.
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