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….
Is Happiness Bad for Your Writing?
I’ve heard many people say that sadness, bad moods and down days help them in their writing. The idea that sad people write beautiful things and that happy people don’t write with depth seems prevalent in some online communities. In…
How Much Does Genre Matter?
In my first ever writing class, my tutor told me how important it was to know the genre you were writing from inside out. For someone who hadn’t “picked” a genre, and who didn’t want to be tied to just one…
The Long Road
Every journey starts with a single step. Every published book, novel, short story or poem begins with a single word. This week, I finally finished the first draft of my novel. It isn’t the first novel I’ve ever written, but…