So maybe you didn’t into MacDowell this year, or Bread Loaf, or [insert highly desired writer's conference, residency, or program here]. You’ve got two options:
Sit and mope.
Make your own.
Two fiction teachers from Boston’s Grub Street, Adam Stumacher and Jenn De Leon, describe how they decided to craft their own “writing fellowship”—and managed to write [...]
I just finished teaching for the term, and this past class was a bit unusual: I had two legally blind students. All of my students were phenomenal, but I was particularly floored by the dedication of those two—one of whom did the class reading by listening to his computer read the stories aloud.
This all got [...]
This has been making the rounds for a little while now, but it’s so inspiring that if you haven’t seen it yet, you really should. In a commencement address at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Neil Gaiman offers reflections and advice on writing, freelancing, and the artistic life—”everything I wish I’d known starting [...]
Perhaps, like many of us, you’re the kind of person who won’t do anything without a (proverbial) gun to your head. But it’s hard to type while holding a gun to your own head, no? Leave it to technology to solve this problem: enter Aherk!, which describes itself as a free “goal-oriented self-blackmailing [...]
You may have said those words once or twice yourself, perhaps? (If not, please leave this blog. Now.)
It may comfort you to know that you are not alone in that sentiment: even established writers think so, now and then—and have for decades, if not centuries. To prove it, Michael Hoffman has combed [...]
I save rejection slips. In graduate school, someone mentioned an acquaintance who had wallpapered her bathroom with them, and I liked that idea. There was something honest and humbling about it. So when I started submitting my own stories to literary journals, I saved the rejections, imagining I might do the same one day. It [...]
On Oscar night, no one listens to the thank-you speeches—except the people being thanked. Likewise, no one reads the author acknowledgements of a book—or do they?
On The Millions, Henriette Lazaridis Power delves into the stories behind this oft-overlooked section of a book, from the Brontë sisters to Zadie Smith to Robin Black. And [...]
Editor’s note: At AWP 2012, which just wrapped up in Chicago, we were thrilled to hear this wonderful story from one of our contributors, Sarah Van Arsdale, and are delighted to share it with you. It’s a reminder of what conferences are really about: fostering community to buoy a writer’s spirit, helping you hang [...]
When I first got to college, I was pretty sure that I was an admissions mistake. My roommate was one of Glamour’s College Women of the Year. Another girl downstairs played piano with the Philharmonic; the guy down the hall was almost sixteen. A guy on the first floor held two patents. [...]
Recently, the New York Times tackled the burning question of why authors tweet. One main reason? To connect with the reader, of course:
For one thing, publishers are pushing authors to hobnob with readers on Twitter and Facebook in the hope they will sell more copies. But there’s another reason: Many authors have little [...]
