I have no shame with sharing the first draft of anything I write, and that’s a problem, because sharing too early destroyed the first draft of my most recent novel. Context: A couple of months ago I finished out my…
Let the Ghosts Crash the Party (It’s More Fun That Way) by Kelsey Ann Kerr
When I was 21, in the fall of my senior year of college at Denison University, my father died. It was unexpected; in a course of weeks he died of liver failure, swift but sudden after years of being overweight…
Suspension of Disbelief by David Massey
Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote of “the willing suspension of disbelief” as being necessary to the enjoyment of a dramatic or literary work. The auditor or reader, he said, has to suspend disbelief if he is to enter the world of…
Poetry and the Patient by Guy Traiber
It’s 2:00 AM and I can’t sleep, although I still don’t know these two facts. At the moment I am simply lost in a darkness, unconsciously fighting to remain in the sweet forgetful sleep which is quickly dissipating, from one…
Sound and Sense by David Massey
I am an autodidact, which means I probably know next to nothing about my chosen craft. I do, however, have a few things to share. I came late to an earnest reckoning with the art of fiction but have made…
Silencing Your Internal Editor by Wendi Dass
The internal editor is an issue for every writer. Either it doesn’t speak enough or it never shuts up. For most, it’s the latter, and this has been the case for me. I call my internal editor Helga, the name…