It is one of my greatest fears. I have abandoned my creativity before; this blog is my chronicle of returning to an art-committed life and working to stay there. That is also a central theme of the travel memoir I am in the process of polishing to final. But it is so easy to drift away […]
Read more
Archive | Journalism RSS feed for this section
Avoiding ‘Truthiness’ When Writing Your Life
March 25, 2013 
185 Comments
“Did that really happen?” It’s a question every memoirist and personal essayist faces. Ideally the writer will answer “Yes.” It gets awkward when you have to say, “Yes, but…” In the October 2005 debut episode of his influential TV show, Stephen Colbert gave the world the word truthiness. He said truthiness is when you’re talking […]
Read moreImposing Deadlines on Your Work-In-Progress
February 12, 2013 42 Comments
One of the challenges of an art-committed life is that to produce quality art, you must meet deadlines. Sometimes those deadlines are self-imposed, with no fatal consequences befalling you if they are not met. I find myself wrestling with that challenge right now, as I look ahead to the finish line with my work-in-progress, a […]
Read moreMFA Nugget: Are You an ‘Ear’ or an ‘Eye’ Writer?
January 1, 2013 19 Comments
MONTPELIER, VERMONT — Do you write with your eyes or with your ears? I write with my fingers–it’s a lot easier to type or grip a pen–but sarcasm aside, I learned a good insight on creative writing in my workshop here at my MFA in Writing residency at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. It […]
Read moreWhen the End of the Road is Just the Beginning
November 6, 2012 45 Comments
I just now, moments ago, finished the first draft of the last chapter of my book-length memoir. I am alone in my basement, full of joy and excitement and wonder, but I am not alone, because I know that the readers of this blog are with me. I still have a ways to go on […]
Read moreStop Super-Sizing the English Language!
October 31, 2012 57 Comments
Hurricane Sandy has come and gone, and I sit here in Alexandria, Virginia, once again marveling at our collective ability to over-hype. I don’t mean to play down the impact of this storm, just because I never saw the high winds and tree losses the experts had predicted for my area; plenty of folks on […]
Read moreCreativity Tweets of the Week — 10/12/12
October 12, 2012 4 Comments
Because you have too few demands for your attention, I present to you six links on writing and creativity I tweeted this week. Enjoy! “Is Blogging a Time-Suck for Writers?” Jody Hedlund: I can answer that question in one word: yes. But as Jody points out, every investment has some return. “What Are You Blogging […]
Read moreWhat Can We Learn from Nonfiction Writers Who Make Things Up?
August 3, 2012 33 Comments
There has been a tremendous amount of digital ink spilled this week on the fall of writing wunderkind Jonah Lehrer, whose book Imagine: How Creativity Works, it was revealed this week, contains fabricated quotes of Bob Dylan. Lehrer’s publisher has pulled the book. His employer, The New Yorker, has accepted his resignation. And people like […]
Read morePeer Critique Leads to Award-Winning Writing
June 21, 2012 48 Comments
It won the 2012 Sidney W. Vernick Award in Nonfiction by fwriction: review, and now the literary journal has published my essay, “September 12th,” online. I’m delighted The Artist’s Road readers have a chance to read a bit more of my creative writing should they choose. But I’m moved by what I’ve learned from this […]
Read moreIgnoring the Knock of My Muse
March 9, 2012 32 Comments
It’s been two weeks since I touched my creative writing work-in-progress. Oh, I’ve got plenty of excuses. I spent the last few days of my last MFA packet focusing on my critical essays. Then I had to finish a freelance project. Next up, flying to Chicago for AWP. I blogged from there every day, but […]
Read more
