The Double-Edged Sword of Deadlines

The Double-Edged Sword of Deadlines

For the first time ever, an editor had accepted one of my pitches. And he just so happened to work at a lit mag of my dreams. I dashed off my reply, mentally adding this triumph to my author bio, then looked at my calendar. I’d agreed to send him a 2,000-word personal essay on… Read more »

Draft Day, or Learning to Celebrate Your Manuscript

Draft Day, or Learning to Celebrate Your Manuscript

Last summer, on a hectic day before a month-long vacation, I went to the print shop for my final errand. I’d spent the past ten months working on the second draft of my latest novel—submitting chapters to my writing group, fixing the clunky narrative arc, and generally solidifying my sketchy first pass. Now the dogged… Read more »