You can read all the writing advice in the world, but in the end, it all comes down to how YOU approach the page or the screen. To help illustrate how we’re all just a little bit different, I’m taking a standard list of questions about writing and posing it to dozens of different writers. As you scroll though their answers, I think you’ll see we’re all as individual as fingerprints or snowflakes. And if you’re a writer who’d like to participate in this questionnaire, please email me.
Reading time: About 2 minutes Writer Beni Xiao urges writers not to adopt the voice of previous generations, but to write so that current-day audiences can understand what they are saying. Beni Xiao is an artist and author of Bad Egg (2017, Rahila’s Ghost Press). They are queer, trans, disabled,
Reflections on writing with Beni Xiao… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Andrew Binks says that having the chance to ruminate, without being connected to any device, helps to make him a better writer…. Andrew Binks is the author of two novels, Strip (Nightwood Editions, long listed for the Lambda awards) and The Summer Betweeen (Nightwood Editions).
Reflections on writing with Andrew Binks… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Josée Bergeron says that spending time outdoors every day is essential to her creative process…. Josée Bergeron is a French-Canadian Indigenous Métis mother of five (ages two to 17) and the founder of Backwoods Mama, a nature-based parenting community. Originally from the northern interior of
Reflections on writing with Josée Bergeron Read More »
Reading time: About 3 minutes Kristi Spence strongly believes that writing is not linear. All writers have good days and bad days — and that’s the gig, she says. The writing doesn’t do itself. Kristi Spence is a mom, learner, scientist, writer, runner and philosopher. In her weekly Substack newsletter,
Reflections on writing with Kristi Spence… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes A.H. Kim says that having an accountability partner helps her to get her butt out of bed and into a chair every day…. A.H. (Ann) Kim is an immigrant, mother of two sons and a rescue pup, long-time cancer survivor, community volunteer, and happily retired
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Reading time: About 2 minutes The motto Michelle Yang used when writing her memoir was: “It’s not about what happened to you; it’s about how you survived.” Michelle Yang is an advocate whose writings on Asian American identity, body image, and mental health have been published in NBC News, CNN,
Reflections on writing with Michelle Yang Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Erin Zimmerman says you don’t need to be inspired or wait for inspiration to come to you in order to write. Instead, you just need to put in the work to shape it into something better…. Erin Zimmerman is an evolutionary biologist turned science writer
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Reading time: About 2 minutes Nadia Froese says that writer has a different writing process, and part of developing your craft is getting to know yours…. Nadia Friese is the author of the chapbook Something Spectacular, which was published by 845 Press in 2021. Her poetry and fiction have previously
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Reading time: About 2 minutes Melissa Sevigny says no one — apart from the writer — should be able to dictate how or when anyone can write…. Melissa L. Sevigny is a science writer and poet, living in Flagstaff, Arizona. She is author of Brave the Wild River, winner of
Reflections on writing with Melissa Sevigny… Read More »
Reading time: About two minutes Thomas Harrison says that the first draft of any piece of writing is often terrible. “But it’s always easier to edit, and to polish a found diamond in the rough,” he adds. Thomas Harrison is a teacher, lawyer and creative multi-disciplinary artist who lives on
Reflections on writing with Thomas Harrison… Read More »
