MONTPELIER, VERMONT -- As a creative writer, you know the importance of routine. Writing at a certain time of day, with a particular pen or inspiring sweater, anything that helps you find that quiet place where it's just you and the words. But how often does life really let you find that place? That's the …
Continue reading MFA Nugget: Inspiring Your Writing with Contemplative Practice
MONTPELIER, VERMONT: I'm here at my fourth MFA in Writing residency at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, physically at least. I've already attended a lecture and a three-faculty reading, consumed a moderately acceptable dining-hall meal, and signed up for a student reading (I'm up the night of the 3rd). But I feel disconnected, in …
This is your chance, dear readers, to weigh in on the types of posts you'll see over the next year on The Artist's Road. I've arranged below a list of categories into which Artist's Road posts could most comfortably be fit. It's a bit of a challenge, because while this blog has a theme--living the …
Continue reading What Would You Like to See on The Artist’s Road?
Here in Washington, D.C., we are all swept up in amazement and wonder with the Redskins' rookie quarterback, Robert Griffin III. He is as flawless off the field as he is on. It becomes difficult after a while for writers to find new ways to describe how amazing he is, but in yesterday's Washington Post, …
Who's up for a little creative insight from Emily Dickinson? Tell all the Truth but tell it slantSuccess in Circuit liestoo bright for our infirm DelightThe Truth's superb surpriseAs Lightning to the Children easedWith explanation kindThe Truth must dazzle graduallyOr every man be blind When I started my MFA in Writing program nearly two years …
Continue reading 3 Steps For Creative Writers to Tell it Slant
In three weeks I will drive to Montpelier, Vermont, to begin my final semester in an MFA in Writing program. Over the last few weeks I have devoted every spare minute to polishing the first draft of my work-in-progress--a travel memoir--so that I can hand the manuscript to whichever faculty member I am paired with …
Continue reading Struggling with the Supposed Distinction of Literary vs. Commercial
Few unpublished novelists or memoirists are able to convince a publisher to consider their work until it is complete. But it can be daunting to spend months or years bringing a book to completion with no assurance it will ever be published. Established authors can at times secure advances based on book proposals and a …
Continue reading Is Kickstarter the Answer for Aspiring Authors?
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