The Writer's Notebook
Read and discuss articles on craft, critique, career advice, publishing, teaching, choosing an agent, or choosing the best creative writing program or conference.
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When It Hurts, Write Harder: A Tribute to Philip F. Deaver
Diana Raab | October 2018
Only a handful of people who come into our lives make a true difference to us. For me, Philip Deaver was one of them, both professionally and personally.
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The Creepy Plastic Baby Head of Magical Writing Mojo
Sheila Squillante | September 2018
Round Baby is the name of the weird girl character at the center of my new poetry manuscript, which is currently out wandering the dusky streets of the book contest night market. The poems describe her as “mostly human, most of the time.” In some ways, Baby is my alter ego, the oddest and most powerful distillation of my shadow self.
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Sometimes it Takes a Community
Kate McDevitt | August 2018
Every writing group has a different structure, tone, and feel, so the trick is to find the one that works best for you. Or, in my case, get a group thrust upon you and turn it into what you want it to be.
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Harder, Better: Debuting Late in Life
Leslie Lawrence | July 2018
I was in my mid-twenties when I began writing in earnest; by the time I had a book accepted for publication, I was on Medicare.
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Defensive Masculinity in the Creative Writing Workshop
Rachel Lyon | April 2018
It’s a cold winter evening and I’m hosting a creative writing class in my Brooklyn apartment.
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The '80s Are, Like, Ancient: Writing and Researching Modern Historical Fiction
Leslie Pietrzyk | March 2018
The time setting of my new novel, Silver Girl, is the late '70s and the early '80s, which I found was a challenging historical period to write about. (Yes, forty years ago is "historical fiction.")
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