When it’s going well, writing is exactly like being in love: the fever, the passion, the need to spend every waking moment with your loved one. But, just like love, there are down times, moments when you see the flaws…
Self-Control and the Writer
When Zadie Smith admitted last week that she used Internet-Blocker Self-Control to help her write, it unleashed a large, unsympathetic twitter debate about the merits of using the internet for research while writing. But–and here’s a secret–I use it too….
New Artwork from Dr. Regina Valluzzi
Queen of the Afternoon by Dr. Regina Valluzzi As a Practicing scientist for several decades, Dr. Regina Valluzzi has always pursued her development as an artist in tandem with her technical achievements. Even while completing double BS degrees at…
Lulls and Peaks
I like to think of myself as a “sort-of writer.” I have a few stories in books, a couple of big pieces that people might have heard of and a small–but much appreciated–circle of social network followers who like my…
When Writers Falter: How to Find Your Way Back
I wrote a while ago about how writing is a long road, about how we’re in it for the long haul, how dedication and perseverance and stubbornness are traits a writer needs. But now I’d like to talk about the…
Widening Your Writing Circle: Critique Groups
Writing can be a lonely business. For most of us to focus on our work, we need to be in a place of quiet, calm and solitude. This is wonderful for wading through your book draft or crafting beautiful verse….
Coming Home: Is Your Genre Right for You?
Two weeks ago I moved to a new house. It was an uprooting, unsettling experience in many ways. I felt homesick for my old place where I’d been for so many years. And it made me think–once the dust had…
New Artwork from Sean McCann
Maybe by Sean McCann Sean McCann is a writer from upstate New York very much interested and passionate about concepts, poetry and language. He finds it interesting how people often package contradictory words to convey messages, and that is what…
Rejection: Coping with Disappointment
Artwork: Maybe by Sean McCann Last week, I had a particularly horrific interview for a PhD. By the time I’d recovered from the shock of being annihilated by a seemingly friendly academic panel and bought close to my weight in…
For Writers: Keeping the End in Sight
In case I haven’t mentioned it—and I’m pretty sure I have—I recently finished the first draft of my novel. Until then, I’d found writing easy, lovely, pleasant. Then I spent eighteen months embroiled in a war with my own head…
Literary Fads
First, there was Twilight, the sparkly vampire phenomenon that seemed to come from nowhere. Now there’s Fifty Shades of Grey, the “erotic” novel that has the nation gripped. Once in a while, these literary fads appear. Which leaves writers like…
Essay: Republic of the Sun by Yelena Dubrovina
REPUBLIC OF THE SUN Brief Overview of Russian Poetry in Exile Part I “First Wave” of Russian Émigré Poetry (1917-1945) by Yelena Dubrovina In layman’s language you won’t say as much, As you’ll express in your poetic language….