Reading time: About 3 minutes Susan Sanford Blades says she pretty much NEVER feels like writing, but deals with the challenge by being obedient to her writing schedule… Susan Sanford Blades’ debut novel, Fake It So Real, won the 2021 ReLit Award in the novel category and was a finalist for the 2021 BC and […]
Reflections on writing with Susan Sanford Blades… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Perfectionism in writing, which often leads to overwhelming guilt, is only a destructive force — not a helpful one… Are you ever haunted by the quality of your writing? Not just the occasional “I-could-have-done-better” thought (we all have those), but a deeper, more consuming guilt? You know the feeling… You
Creator to critic: How perfectionism in writing traps you in guilt (part 3 of 3) Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute Clients often ask me if it’s possible to earn enough money as a writer. My answer is, “it depends”…. I have earned enough money as a writer for the last 45 years. How have I been able to do this in a notoriously skinflint industry? Part of it is that
Do you earn enough money as a writer? Read More »
Viewing time: 5 mins 16 secs. The Write Question is a weekly video podcast about writing that I started in 2017 and that ran, more or less weekly, until April 2022. This is a republication of issue #150, which discusses how to use your memory for memoir. The post first ran on Aug. 7/20.
How to use your memory for memoir (video) Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes and metaphors from Julia Phillips. I think it was the New York Times book review podcast that introduced me to the writing of Julia Phillips (pictured above).
Julia Phillip’s figurative language… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Thanks to his earlier career as a journalist, Bretton Loney says he learned that the act of simply putting his bum in the chair was essential to writing success. Bretton Loney is a novelist and non-fiction writer who has independently published three books: The Last Hockey Player, a work of
Reflections on writing with Bretton Loney Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Do you ever feel as though you’re not doing enough? Your researching, writing or editing is just too slow? Learn how to combat these negative feelings… Do you pour countless hours into your writing, yet feel you have too little to show for it? Does this nagging sense of insufficient
The guilt of not doing enough (Managing guilt, part 2 of 3) Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute This is my weekly installment of “writing about writing,” in which I scan the world for material to help other writers. Today I discuss a blog post about quiet quitting — in a strategic way… Quiet quitting is a workplace trend where employees do the bare minimum required in their
A better way to approach quiet quitting Read More »
Viewing time: 4 mins 55 secs The Write Question is a weekly video podcast about writing that I started in 2017 and that ran, more or less weekly, until April 2022. This is a republication of issue #149, which discusses how to write with a short deadline. The post first ran on July 24/20. Transcript:
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Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes from Alexander Chee… Alexander Chee is an American fiction writer, poet, journalist and reviewer. He spent his childhood in South Korea, Kauai, Truk, Guam and Maine. He attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Chee’s critically acclaimed debut
The figurative language of Alexander Chee.. Read More »
