#5onFri: Five Types of Books Writers Should Read

Harry S. Truman said, “Leaders are readers.” I don’t consider myself a leader; not really. I’ve always considered myself a follower. But the Lord has been hammering it into my big skull lately that leaders are just ordinary people with a little bit of influence. If you write, and anybody—I mean, anybody, even if it’s… Read more »

Episode 183: The Power of Words — Interview with Joe Fassler

Hey there word nerds! Today I am delighted to have author and editor Joe Fassler on the show! Joe earned his MFA from the University of Iowa Writing Program and is a senior editor at The New Food Economy. His writing has appeared in many journals including The Boston Review, Electric Literature, and Creative Nonfiction,… Read more »

Writing Romance, Even on a Bad Day

Writing happily-ever-after (HEA) is great a lot of the time. It’s comforting optimism in a world often full of difficult and sad things. Writing about love can boost a dreary day. But what about the days when you just can’t? What about the days where life feels so heavy that getting words about someone else’s… Read more »

How to Set and Keep Your Writing Resolutions

It’s well into January and by now, you’ve probably read about the most common (and achievable) New Year’s resolutions. Or articles challenging you to read all 2017 National Book Award nominees. Or a testimony on the best techniques for writing poems, essays, or novels, distilling the whole process into three easy steps. It seems everyone… Read more »

Be Well, Write Well: Interview with Karen Kaufman Orloff

Welcome to the third installment of our interview series on authors’ writing and wellness habits! Today’s interviewee is Karen Kaufman Orloff, author of several well-known children’s books, including the I Wanna Iguana series. Karen lives and works in the Hudson Valley, as I do, and I’ve known of her work for years but hadn’t had… Read more »

#5onFri: Five Reader Questions to Avoid

What is a reader thinking when he or she reads your work? We all experience an inner dialogue about the world around us. During reading it’s the same: consuming words wakes up the voices in our heads. What we really want is for our readers to be asking the right questions. Things like ‘what happens next?’… Read more »

Speculating Your Future: Five Steps to FIT Goals

I’m going a bit off theme with this article, but when I saw Gabriela’s on Why You Should Review Your Writing Year, I figured I was on the write track. You see, I’m not a fan of resolutions, at the beginning of the New Year, or at any time. There’s something too final about the… Read more »