Here to learn? You’re in the WRITE place!

If you celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a restful and joy-filled time with the people you love most. If you don’t, then my warmest holiday wishes to you.

The year is nearly over (can you believe it?), and I’d like us all to take these last few days of the year to breathe in what we’ve accomplished in our writing over the last year. This is usually a time of release. We’ve finished the manic shopping before Christmas. We’ve eaten more than we should but we’re putting off our workout/dieting until January 1. We are relaxed, satiated now, and so this is the perfect time for a year-end review of our writing.

Every Writer in Wordville liked stories a lot.
But the Grinch who lived North of Wordville did not!

The Grinch hated writing—the whole creative way.
Now, please don’t ask why. No one knows what to say.

This guest post is by Elisabeth Sharp McKetta. Elisabeth teaches writing for Harvard Extension School, is the founder of Poetry for Strangers, and the author of two books, The Creative Year: 52 Workshops for Writers and The Fairy Tales Mammals Tell. You can find her...

I first wanted to become a writer because I read those great books (you know the ones: Great Expectations and Harry Potter and Les Miserables and On the Road) and thought, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to do this all day, to spend your afternoons having conversations with interesting characters and dealing with the deep challenges of the soul?”

No matter how thick our skin is, it’s always tough to hear something negative about our work. We’ve worked so hard on it for so long, made so many edits, and now there’s even more to change. How does our manuscript even remotely resemble the original idea?

Luckily, there are a few things you can do to handle critiques in a more positive way. Here are four of my tips.

One of the single most powerful things you can do to improve your writing in the New Year has nothing to do with writing itself.

Below are seven key questions to help you on your way.

When you write using the omniscient voice you are essentially speaking from the point of view of God.

This guest post is by our newest regular contributor, Marcy McKay. Marcy, who has joined us several times before, is the “Energizer Bunny of Writers.” She believes writing is delicious and messy and hard and important. If you’ve ever struggled with your writing, you...