Advice for Writing, Editing, Reading, and Life.
New posts on Mondays (for non-fiction) or Fridays (for fiction)
Skin to Skin
Rain had just begun to seep through Paul’s hooded sweatshirt, but he still didn’t move. Silently, still, unblinking. How long had it been? 30 years? Flashes of pain and fear and shame flooded his mind, overrunning decades of mental blocks and repression that had served as levees until this night.
This is where it happened.
National Poetry Month
I’m accepting a National Poetry Month challenge to write a poem every day for the entire month of April. As a part of my accountability structure, and as a way to force myself to become comfortable with the uncomfortable, I will be posting them to this blog.
Five Rookie Writing Mistakes (I Still Sometimes Make)
No matter how good you get at bowling, there’s always a cap after which, even if you are getting better, you can’t really measure it. In writing there’s no cap to how good you can be; however, because “good writing” is based almost entirely on subjective criteria, there’s no clear or obvious way to measure how good a writer you are.
All you can do is identify mistakes and avoid them in the future.
Five Characteristics of a Great Writing Group
Like it or not, you will never be all you can be as a writer until you open yourself up to outside feedback. Every writer needs an editor, every editor needs a reader, and every reader needs a writer. A critique group is a wonderful way to begin widening the circle of people who see and respond to your work, but I don’t recommend just thoughtlessly messaging people in hopes of finding a group. So this week, I want to discuss some things to look for in a critique group.