The other day I was talking to a friend about a piece she was writing. Ray tends to write in a personal style, but is starting to include more academic sources. Considering my own traumatic brush with academia, I’m ambivalent about this. One thing she said bothered me, because of what it represents. She said:…
Tag: Adam
It’s Caturday and We Have Questions
Hey, all! Big Cat and Little Cat are curious about mentorship today. They wanted to start by thanking the teachers who long ago taught them to sit on Erika’s keyboard…or face when she’s trying to write. It seems to come so naturally to them. Turns out there’s a technique to it. Who knew? Anyway, drop…
New Year’s Writing Resolutions: Avoiding Burnout
I managed to convince myself to take a week off from posting to the website, as a means of avoiding burnout. It wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. As much as I want to post every week, every day, even, to keep up consistent site traffic, I recognized that my energy is not unlimited. I…
It’s Caturday and We Have Questions
Big Cat and Little Cat drank a bit too much milk last night, so most of their queries today have been: “Where’s the aspirin?” But in the spirit of the New Year, they’d like to know if you have any New Year’s Resolutions concerning your writing? What are you planning to write in the New…
It’s Caturday and We Have Questions
*** Description: Two cats sit on a bed together. An Orange Tabby in the foreground smiles at his companion and says “Merry Christmas Little Cat.” Beside him, a grey tabby glares at Big Cat and responds, “Kids these days have no respect for tradition. Keep Saturn in Saturnalia, Dammit!” It’s Caturday, but the cats are…
Your New Year’s Writing Resolution
So you want to start writing. Maybe you’ve tried other New Year’s Resolutions in the past and they haven’t stuck–or they have! Maybe you’ve tried more health-related ones or career-related ones. A New Year’s Resolution to write more is a wonderful thing. Cynic that I am, I think it’s a nice idea to take stock…
The Third “Rule”: Writing Groups
Are There Really Only 2 Rules of Writing? The short answer is: Yes. The long answer is: Well… Shall we get into it? The reason we start with 2 rules of writing is that I want the word ‘rule’ to mean something. It’s not a helpful hint; it’s not a suggestion. If you do this,…
Give Yourself Permission to Write
This is a topic that’s dear to my heart. People are likely to look at me (on paper) and think there’s no way I could be experiencing impostor syndrome about my writing. I’m over 450 manuscript pages into a novel. I finished and submitted a 300-page dissertation in 2019 and was granted the degree of…
Baggage
This is the draft of a story I wrote in almost a single breath, and then submitted to a couple of literary magazines. The rejections were polite. One said that there was not enough development of the secondary characters, particularly the father, and that showing up to a party in the wrong clothing felt too…
A Piece of Our Minds: An Introduction
You may be looking at this page and wondering why we’ve claimed a little spot for ourselves. Why not just share our writing on the same page as the other pieces we’re bringing you? After all, we’re all writers here, right? If I tried to summarize it in one word, I’d probably say, “Accountability.” That…