Editing | Coaching | Instruction
For the last few weeks, I have been taking a break from writing. Instead, I’ve been gardening, going on walks, reading books that fall in the “fluff” category (i.e. not genre research). This decision was deliberate and followed a recent rejection that stung deeper than usual and came on the heels of a year of building momentum. It has been a relief to take a break from the specter of “what I could achieve if I persist.” I feel like I’ve been on vacation.
Many writers find it challenging to locate craft books that meet them where they are in their writing development. There are hundreds of texts to choose from whose topics range from plot-centric to memoir-esque to publishing to process, and anything in between. Having read two dozen or more books on the craft of writing, I decided to put together a post of the books I most often recommend to others, depending on their needs and experience.
A list of six excellent writing-related podcasts that will help you take your writing to the next level, whether you’re a beginner or a pro.
Unique Approach To Story Writing In Robert Olen Butler’s From Where You Dream, the author explains his unique approach to writing a story. The foundational technique Butler promotes is the act of dreamstorming. “Think about how you go to sleep,” he says. “You lie down and all that garbage just turns off. Suddenly an image […]
Having never read Faulkner before now (I know, sacrilege for a southern writer), I began with his “most accessible work”, Light in August. At just over 500 pages, the novel was dense and the writing often obtuse, difficult to follow, and overly embellished. There was, however, something compelling about the story and its characters that […]
I saw Jill McCorkle give a reading a couple of years ago and have been wanting to read her most recent novel, Life After Life, ever since. She is a dynamic speaker full of energy and verve for southern stories especially. She is originally from North Carolina, and has taught for many years in the […]
It seems that in every creative writing class I take, Eudora Welty’s name is invoked. The woman had a lot to say about writing. A quick search on the internet will give you hundreds of thousands of hits of her advice despite the fact that she died over 15 years ago. She is, without a […]
Read my last mini-essay here. The Collection as Form This seminar by Kathryn Rhett, instructor at Queens University of Charlotte, explored the works of three different authors and genres. In poetry, we read The Well Speaks of its Own Poison by Maggie Smith; in fiction, Adam Johnson’s Fortune Smiles, and in nonfiction, The Braindead Megaphone […]
MFA ESSAYS Now that I am a MFA student in Creative Writing (Fiction) at Queens University, I am required to write a few short comparative literature essays about the books we read and the seminars we attended. I figured, might as well post these essays here, too, right? My first essay is about the Treatment […]
On my quest to find interesting writing prompts, I came across CreativeWritingPrompts.com (a not-so-creative url). Prompt #95: “List 31 simple pleasures. Every day for four weeks, write about one simple pleasure for five minutes” I love this prompt. So much so that I’m going to try to complete their challenge. Except I’ll probably spend longer […]