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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A Model for Feedback on Your Creative Work
April 4, 2013 
28 Comments
“Writing is a solitary pursuit,” said award-winning author Robin Hemley, explaining why he has “no patience” for belonging to a writer’s group. You might argue that Robin has reached a level in his career where he doesn’t need feedback from other writers. He is an accomplished writer of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. He directs the […]
Read moreAvoiding ‘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 moreHow Technology is Advancing the Arts
March 21, 2013 11 Comments
Every artist on some level understands that the actions of an artist are dictated by technology. Before Gutenberg invented the printing press, writers were far more limited in page count with wound codexes. The sound amplification technology provided by a piano allowed compositions intended for far larger audiences than a harpsichord. We focus on Kindles […]
Read moreAWP Nugget: What You Missed at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference
March 11, 2013 4 Comments
I’ve returned from snowy Boston and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference. It was a mixed bag for me. There were a couple of sessions that were really solid, and I met a handful of interesting editors on the Bookfair floor that I may follow up with at some point. I also attended […]
Read moreAWP Nugget: The Bubbling Debate over Self-Publishing
March 9, 2013 33 Comments
BOSTON — The fireworks didn’t come during the panel session, which is a good thing, because every square inch of the floor was covered by attendees. Pyrotechnics in rooms violating fire codes never end well. But the figurative fireworks came that night, assisted with alcohol. I refer here to the third rail of our modern […]
Read moreAWP 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 moreNovelist Charlotte Rains Dixon on Her Experience with Indie Publishing
February 22, 2013 10 Comments
I have a special treat today. Charlotte Rains Dixon, author of the recently published novel Emma Jean’s Bad Behavior, has agreed to answer a few questions about her experience with the publishing process. Let me say I first discovered Charlotte more than two years ago through her fantastic blog. Let me also say that I […]
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 […]
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