by Guest Blogger |
Have you ever looked back on a piece of your writing and cringed? Not necessarily because of its quality, but because you realize you would write the story differently now that some time has passed. You realize you were impulsive in writing about a life-changing situation, that your views on the experience have changed after having the time to reflect.
As writers, we love to draw from our own real-life stories in our work. Whether in a memoir, a creative essay, or a blog post, we can be eager to document the experiences we go through. Let’s look at the power of personal experiences and the trick to writing about them effectively.
by Monica M. Clark |
NaNoWriMo is a fun thing lots of writers do each year. In order to write 50,000 words in just 30 days, they write thousands of words every single day. Whether you’re writing a novel in a month or not, though, writing every day is actually a really valuable habit to develop.
Don’t believe me? Then check out these quotes from authors and bloggers, which will inspire you next month and beyond!
by Kellie McGann |
A couple weeks ago I road tripped to Franklin, Tennessee, for our friend Jeff Goins’s most recent Tribe Conference.
The Tribe Conference is an annual gathering of writers who want to grow in their craft and business in the midst of community. It was an incredible experience with unforgettable people.
Here are the seven lessons I learned that weekend.
by Pamela Fernuik |
Jill and Kate were singing “Behind These Hazel Eyes” at a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles when Kelly Clarkson walked in. They ended up singing as backup singers for her for six years until they stepped out from the back of the stage to the front of the stage, singing their own songs.
I love their sound, and their original lyrics.
I was so curious to know how they wrote their songs—how they do what they do, how they create their music.
Singers are writers. Writers who sing their words. I want to introduce Jill and Kate to you and to share their writing process. It might be helpful to you if you write songs, or would like to write songs.
by Ruthanne Reid |
English is so weird.
No, really. We only have 26 letters and a hodgepodge vocabulary that seems to make fun of itself. We use insane spelling and restrictive grammar that make no logical sense. I once heard the joke that English doesn’t “borrow” from other languages; it follows them into dark alleys, knocks them out, and takes their wallets.
Yet somehow, we use this cockamamie language to create beauty and power, to communicate multi-layered concepts and share one another’s lives. We use our broken, Frankensteinian tongue to reshape entire world views, to give hope, and to create empathy. That’s why, in spite of its flaws, I love it.
If you’re going to be a writer, you need to learn to love it, too—even when it drives you crazy.
by Monica M. Clark |
A couple of weeks ago I attended an author talk with Jonathan Franzen at Sixth and I in D.C.. A journalist named Marcela Valdes sat “in conversation” with him and I’m not gonna lie—it was like watching a fawning student desperately trying to impress her professor (who will not throw her a bone).
Was the author talk worth it? Definitely. Even though the conversation was a little weird, every once in a while the too-cool-for-school Corrections author would drop these tidbits of wisdom that I loved.
