By Guest Contributor Sharon Bially Writers in the trenches of drafting and revising often look ahead with nothing but pure jubilation to the day when they’ll be offered a publishing deal. That’s the day all the hard work, the restructuring,…
As a writer, I sometimes worry so much about pleasing the marketplace that I become afraid to try new things and lose faith in that little voice that is my muse. This past weekend at Grub Street’s Muse and the…
Grub Street’s Muse and the Marketplace conference is this weekend. It’s always a good time of the year in Boston. Hundreds of writerly folks gather to talk craft, to talk publishing, to talk to each other, and to drink (because…
The slogans zing at writers everywhere we go, from tree-dangling kittens on social media to well-meaning cocktail party guests. Keep the Faith. Never Give Up. Butt in Chair. And we spoon feed it to ourselves as well, suckling at the…
Meet Captain Happen—troublemaker, narrative enabler, change agent. The novelist, essayist, and poet, Charles Baxter talks about Captain Happen as one of several ways to increase urgency and momentum in fiction. Male or female, this kind of character shakes things up….
It wasn’t so long ago that I was a person who kept her calendar in stone. I did not flake, bail, ghost, disappear, get busy, or “forget.” If I said I was going, I went. Period. End of story. I was that…