Just Get a Job!

by | Jun 2, 2016 | Creativity

I never wanted to burden my writing with the responsibility of paying for my life. I knew better than to ask this of my writing, because over the years, I have watched so many other people murder their creativity by demanding that their art pay the bills. … I’ve...

Following Your Own Path

by | Mar 24, 2016 | Authors & Other Writers

In the eyes of others you have something called a Career. Certain people, should you be lucky enough to have them, like your agent or your editor, will hasten to tell you that what you need now for that career is another novel or another book of the same kind of poems...

You Have to Learn to Pace Yourself … Pressure!*

by | Mar 7, 2016 | Miscellany

Not long ago one of my authors—I consider her a friend too—gave me a partial glimpse of her to-do list: editing one book for publisher A, writing proposals for new fiction that hasn’t been contracted yet, writing the marketing synopsis for the [not-quite-finished]...

Clean, Clear, Uncluttered Writing

by | Mar 3, 2016 | The Writing Craft

Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon. … But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves...