Being a Writer in New England
My output is amazing during the winter. For me, cold, dark days are conducive to hunkering down and writing as is the soggy, cool springtime. But once warm, sunny, blue skies roll around, it is so hard to keep my…
Category: The Writing Life
Friday Feast: In Defense of Villainesses, Women Taking Charge, a Writer’s Guide to Hacking the Reader’s Brain (in 5 Steps), the Importance of Empathy as Craft, and What Happens When a Book Is Fatally Flawed
Maybe it’s because I’m writing a novel with two female leads who flirt with a whole heap of trouble. Maybe it’s because of the stunningly sexist commentary from the Olympics and the policing of women’s bodies on the regular. Whatever…
Writing your (gayest) truth
There are invisible radio waves floating around our heads, and somehow every new writer picks up one particular frequency that translates to: write your truth. It’s the first advice many of us receive, and the most often repeated. Some may…
Friday Feast: 12-Step Writing Process, Writer’s Laze, Working Class Literature, Committing to Diversity When You’re White, and the Middle of Things: Advice for Young Writers
I love reading about the writing processes of authors. You never know what knowledge you can glean and what new nugget you can pop in your writer toolbox. I especially love that Margo Kelly, author of our first link, highlighted…
Three Things I’m Glad I Did Before My Debut Sold
If you decide to go with traditional publishing, there’s very little you can control once you hit Submit on your query. You’ll feel jittery. Hooray. That’s normal. You’ll feel self-absorbed and needy and desperate. Super. Also normal. But I’m here…
Friday Feast: Frank Ocean, Harper Lee, and the Reclusive Artist; Stranger Things Characterization Lessons; Jumping the Line vs. Waiting; Why One Trans Woman Writes; and Carrie Brownstein’s Reading List
My writing process involves marinating on a topic for a while. One way I do that is through music. The musician I listened to most during a period of revision angst and relationship turmoil was Frank Ocean. I put Channel Orange on repeat while…