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 […]
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AWP Nugget: Left-Brain Planning for a Right-Brain Conference
March 5, 2013 
15 Comments
The process of creating art fires neurons in the right side of our brains. Planning and organization processes in the left side. Planning the most creative use of one’s time at North America’s largest literary conference requires whole-brain thinking. Every artist I interviewed on my cross-country U.S. road trip understood the role of planning in […]
Read moreA Round-Up of Resources for AWP 2013
February 27, 2013 6 Comments
With 11,000 creative writers about to descend upon Boston for the 2013 Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) annual conference, it’s not surprising that some of those writers have written online posts providing guidance and advice. I’ve collected a few below. If you’re planning on attending this year’s AWP from March 6-9, feel free […]
Read moreCreativity Tweets of the Week – 9/14/12
September 14, 2012 10 Comments
It dawned on me that I should collect some of the best links on writing and creativity I tweet during the week and compile them in a single, easy-to-use guide. I thought I’d call it “Creativity Tweets of the Week.” Oh yeah, I used to do this pretty regularly, didn’t I? Here at the Artist’s […]
Read moreMFA Nugget: Is Your Dialogue Scintillating?
June 29, 2012 15 Comments
WARNING: At the bottom of this post I have retyped the result of a writing exercise I authored an hour ago. My sincerest apologies. You hold the rejection letter in your hand, wondering why the editor didn’t rush to publish your short story. Your opening was like a bundle of firecrackers. Your plot was written […]
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 moreLit Journal Nugget: Ep;phany
May 1, 2012 1 Comment
Awhile back I had an epiphany; as I studied literary journals I would run reviews on this site. I then had a further epiphany; I would invite readers to submit their own. I’m pleased to feature the first guest post in the Lit Journal Nugget series, a review of Ep;phany by Jennifer (Jenna) McGuiggan, a great […]
Read moreYou Can’t Be Published If You Don’t Play
April 17, 2012 36 Comments
“You can’t win if you don’t play,” lottery jingles tell us. The same is true with our creative pursuits. For example, with creative writing, we won’t be published if we don’t submit. In a recent post, my friend Kate Arms Roberts posited the notion of “learning to fail better,” which she found in Alice LaPlante’s […]
Read moreLit Journal Nugget: fugue
March 25, 2012 6 Comments
Today we’ll take a look at the literary journal fugue, which like e.e. cummings eschews capitalization. I discovered this journal last year via NewPages, and picked up a copy last month at AWP. It is edited by university graduate students, and given its quality, it appears no worse the wear for lack of a permanent […]
Read moreCreativity Tweets of the Week – 03/16/12
March 16, 2012 10 Comments
Feel free to jump straight to the eight links on creativity and writing that are among the resources I tweeted this week. Per usual, I’ve included some commentary and photo captions that I assume you won’t read. CREATIVITY “‘Your Playlist Can Change Your Life’: Can Music Boost Your Brain?” Amina Khan, Los Angeles Times: When […]
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