Recently, Michelle Glogovac interviewed Jennie Nash for our May/June issue (On Book Coaching: A Conversation with Jennie Nash). Nash is the founder and CEO of Author Accelerator and the author of 11 books in 3 genres, including Blueprint for a Book: Build Your Novel from the Inside Out and Blueprint for a Book: Plan and Pitch Your Big Idea. […]
“Try to recapture that childlike state, when you wrote just for the sake of it, without concern for whether anyone outside of yourself will like it, publish it, or favorably review it. Write down every little idea that comes to you, no matter how silly it may seem, even if you don’t know what you […]
“Read authors you enjoy and those that challenge you. Engage with a writing community, in person or virtually — classes, critique groups, local events, social media or coffee with a writer friend. This, more than anything, will help you hone your craft. Be adventurous with medium and form. If you usually write by longhand, compose […]
“Read. Read the voices of those you want to talk to. Read the conversations you want to be a part of. Read one new thing every day, or every week. I say it’s ok to skip the classics. Find your contemporaries. What can you add to this conversation, through your own experiences and talents? Go […]
“When inspiration strikes, stop everything and write. But don’t wait for inspiration, and learn to hold ideas, words, whole paragraphs in your head, just in case. Make, beg, or steal time–from your job, your hobbies, your sleep–and write, whether it’s fifteen minutes a day or an hour once a week; find the time and use […]
“I’m the worst with writing advice. A masochist, at best. Hard on myself. Critical. But I do, maybe, have some advice: be slow and deliberate. Let ideas stew. Nobody’s waiting! You’re waiting for yourself to connect disparate threads. The result might be gorgeously horrific or inspiring, whatever your purpose. Give yourself that time to think, […]
“The Star Wars franchise isn’t something I’ve followed, but the wisdom of Yoda and its applicability to the writing life continue to resonate with me. ‘Patience you must have, my young Padawan,’ ‘Do. Or do not. There is no try,’ and ‘A Jedi must have the deepest commitment’ are words to live by. If you write, you are a […]
“Read extensively, but write the poems only you could write. Talk with other writers, even if they’re dead. Know your purpose and hold it close. Think of the obvious, then think of something better. Make friends with metaphor. Take your poem to a metaphor’s house and stay. Follow when the metaphor goes out; see what […]
Welcome to Craft Talks. In this bi-monthly post, we’ll have a mini-interview with our own editors about craft, what they look for in submissions, and all things writing. Today, I talked with Amanda Fields, Publisher. She told me her role as Publisher, Naomi Shihab Nye, and her love of the weirder sides of motherhood. 1. […]