Here at The Artist’s Road we promote creative thinking and doing at any age. Dr. Francine Toder has written a book based both on scientific research and individual case studies that not only supports the notion that a “vintage” brain can take up a new artistic passion, but that there are many benefits to doing […]
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A Pearl of Wisdom for Fiction Writers
May 2, 2013 
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Allow me to share with you a nugget for my readers who are fiction writers. This is from an essay on the great Victorian novelist George Eliot by Joseph Epstein, from his recently published essay collection Essays in Biography: One of the modern fiction workshop laws is that a writer should always show and never […]
Read moreFive Keys to Living an Art-Committed Life
April 30, 2013 35 Comments
His story is simultaneously inspiring and horrifying. After ten years in the rat-race of London, James Rhodes returned to his true passion, the piano. He dedicated himself to achieving the mastery he had dreamed of as a youth. And now, after years of dedication and hard work, James is a concert pianist. In his essay […]
Read moreOwn Your Identity as an Artist
April 23, 2013 80 Comments
I savor the comments readers leave on this blog. But often they are apologetic in tone, along the lines of “I’m not really a writer,” or “I aspire to be a writer.” In the technical sense of the word “writer,” at least as I see it, these statements are a lie. They “wrote” a comment, […]
Read moreWhen Did You First Embrace Your Creativity?
April 9, 2013 27 Comments
There were many commonalities I found among the creatives I interviewed during my 2010 cross-country U.S. trip. One was that my interview subjects all discovered their own creative side at a very early age. Fortunately for them–and for us–they held on to that creativity, and didn’t let the “I can’t” and “I don’t” forces of […]
Read moreAWP Nugget: Takeaways from Nobel Laureates Seamus Heaney and Derek Walcott
March 8, 2013 10 Comments
BOSTON — If you’re given an hour to sit down and listen to two Nobel-Prize-winning writers, you do so. I am still in my infancy when it comes to my understanding and appreciation of poetry and poets, but I made a point to attend the Thursday evening 8:30 pm keynote with Seamus Heaney and Derek […]
Read moreAWP Nugget: Hey Writers, Let’s Meet Up in Person in Seattle in 2014!
March 7, 2013 32 Comments
BOSTON — One emotion I have always felt at the AWP creative writers conference is jealousy. Jealousy of the talent and success of the panelists and readers. Jealousy of the way so many writer attendees approach literary editors on the Bookfair floor without fear. But, mostly, jealousy of how so many attendees have made the […]
Read moreThe Role of the AWP Conference in a Creative Writer’s Evolution
February 15, 2013 13 Comments
I’ve booked my flight and hotel for this year’s Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference in Boston, Massachusetts. I’m in Beantown from Wednesday, March 6th to Saturday the 9th, a very short time to take in all of the workshops, readings, receptions, and of course, the massive trade show floor with just about […]
Read moreA Creative Writer Braves the Inauguration
January 23, 2013 17 Comments
This is not a post about politics. It is about a creative writer struggling to maintain an art-committed life. The story begins with a trip to the second Inauguration of President Barack Obama. I was one of approximately 500,000 people to make my way to Washington, D.C.’s National Mall Monday to witness the ceremony. I […]
Read moreMFA Nugget: A 24-Hour Low-Residency Story Arc
January 3, 2013 19 Comments
MONTPELIER, VERMONT — This is a tale of defiance, betrayal, and surrender. DEFIANCE. I refuse to do it. The graduating student lecturer, greeting sleepy students at the start of the day here at our MFA residency, instructs us to write. Her prompt? To write about something that is painful in our past. I am here […]
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