When, if ever, is it okay to make pop culture references in fiction? And does that rule change when you’re writing for children or teens? This much-debated topic has no easy answer. First, an overview of the debate, then we’ll discuss how the dynamics shift when your target audience skews younger, and how to make… Read more »
It’s time for the final installment of our series on the WHY-WHAT-HOW of your writing life. In the first post, we discovered our writing purpose. In the second post, we turned that purpose into specific goals. Today’s focus will be on creating routines and habits that bring our purpose and goals into reality. Step One:… Read more »
I spent most of my working lifetime teaching students at London University, and, after immigrating to Southern California, at USC, UCLA and California State University, Long Beach. During that time, under pressure to publish, I wrote seven nonfiction books. Some were works of literary criticism, others included a biography, a genre study of autobiography, and even… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Janae Marks! Janae is an award-winning children’s book author living in Connecticut. She has an MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in Writing for Children and Young Adults from The New School, and is an active member of the Society of Children’s Books Writers… Read more »
This column was due on December 24th. Anyone surprised that my thoughts turned to the season and to celebrations of the winter solstice? If you and your story live within the Judeo-Christian tradition, you’ll no doubt have a good handle on Christmas and Hanukkah. But, for Christmas in particular, how did some of the traditions… Read more »
I love a good story that explores the theme of man and the natural world. Maybe it’s because I’m a nature lover at heart. Or maybe it’s because I often draw on nature for inspiration for my poetry. Regardless, when a book’s jacket copy hints at a unique natural setting, a character’s fight for survival… Read more »
Creating a writing space is both incredibly important and incredibly daunting. You need a space that will encourage your creativity without making you feel overwhelmed, which can be difficult to balance. Here are some tips to make it a little bit easier to build the perfect space for you. 1) Find a Comfortable Chair Having… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Kiley Reid! An Arizona native, Kiley Reid is a recent graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was the recipient of the Truman Capote Fellowship. Her short stories have been featured and are forthcoming in Ploughshares, December, New South, and Lumina. With the… Read more »
A highlight of my sabbatical last year was attending a Lynda Barry Writing the Unthinkable Workshop. Taking a class with this amazing cartoonist has been on my bucket list for years. Every few months I’d ponder how I could pack off to Wisconsin for a summer or semester to take one of the cartooning classes… Read more »
On a six-hour car ride with friends to one of the nine weddings my husband and I attended last year, we got into a conversation about personality types and the tests people take to determine them. From figuring out where you get your energy from to what motivates you to how you express and receive… Read more »
