The Writing Life Category
Writing News to Know (Week of Jan. 19, 2015)
Posted on January 19, 2015 Leave a Comment
Each week, check this Monday posting for a selection of current calls for submissions, good writing advice from the interwebs, and legit writing job listings. Fear less, do more. And may we all have a productive and successful 2015! Calls for Submissions This looks like a good one – and they’ve got another interesting themed issue […]
How to be a better storyteller
Posted on January 16, 2015 Leave a Comment
Writers are storytellers. No matter the medium or genre, writers work hard to craft delectable stories for public consumption. And we all know that some stories are better than others. So what differentiates a fascinating, compelling, riotous story from one that is just okay? Strong start. Emotional appeal. Logical appeal. Sensory details. Action. Scenes. Anecdotes. Moments of […]
Holiday Hiatus until January 15, 2015
Posted on December 15, 2014 Leave a Comment
Dear friends, readers, blog followers, and passers-by, This has been a rollicking, crazy-making, exhausting, exhilarating, productive, and fast-paced semester. I turned in my seven binders of evidence for tenure and promotion, wrote 64 posts since I started this blog on August 4, 2014, taught 90 students, and graded 230 papers and 90 presentations. Now that […]
Know when to quit
Posted on December 12, 2014 Leave a Comment
This is the season for resolutions. So many people resolve to create unrealistic expectations for themselves that they enter the new year destined for disappointment. When it comes to our writing practice, let’s think more realistically. Know when to quit. “What?!” You bellow. “I am a writer! I will NEVER quit!” That’s good, dear reader. But hear […]
Three seats left in my Advanced Memoir workshop this January! :)
Posted on December 11, 2014 Leave a Comment
Fellow writers! You might have seen previous posts about this workshop and now it’s crunch time. I need a few more participants to fill the workshop – three seats. I suspect that at least three of you are working on a creative nonfiction project that would benefit from this intensive workshop weekend. If you are […]
The terrible, inevitable subjectivity of rejection
Posted on December 8, 2014 Leave a Comment
If you are a writer, you will be rejected. Not once. Not twice or thrice. Hundreds of times over decades of writing your guts on a page. And sometimes the reason you are rejected is entirely subjective – the editor, the editorial board, the publisher, the agent – just didn’t like what you wrote. It […]
There is no such thing as writer’s block
Posted on December 5, 2014 2 Comments
That’s right. I said it. There is no such thing as writer’s block. When writers become stuck in their process, the usual suspect causes are procrastination, fear, doubt, lack of research, lack of brainstorming, lack of idea-brewing time, lack of purpose, anxiety (about the subject matter, a deadline, etc.), diminished passion for the existing work, […]
Need some editing help?
Posted on December 4, 2014 Leave a Comment
You’ve completed your masterpiece. An essay. A report. A story. A novel. A thesis. There are lots of documents that might qualify as your masterpiece. Now it’s time to revise and you feel your sternum seize up, a growing dread from your intestines to the deepest reaches of your brain. Paralysis takes over. Wait, wait, […]
Amanda Morris, Ph.D. 