I am in an intimate relationship with two different muses. I never allow them to meet. What do I mean by that? I'm referring to the two worlds in which I apply creative thinking as well as my writing experience and training. Readers of The Artist's Road know me as the recent MFA graduate who …
Tag: Writer
What the Heck Should I Call Myself, Anyway?
Today I'm honored to have as a guest blogger Annie Neugebauer, who has authored short stories, novels, and award-winning poetry. She shares with her blog readers wisdom, thoughtfulness, and more than a bit of whimsy. Enjoy! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aspiring. Writer. Author. Indie. Poet. Literary. Commercial. Vanity press. Award-winning. If you’re in the book industry, you probably …
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Lit Journal Nugget: Ep;phany
Awhile back I had an epiphany; as I studied literary journals I would run reviews on this site. I then had a further epiphany; I would invite readers to submit their own. I'm pleased to feature the first guest post in the Lit Journal Nugget series, a review of Ep;phany by Jennifer (Jenna) McGuiggan, a great …
Who Has Your Creativity Sold Out?
Is your creativity selling out someone in your life? Joan Didion famously wrote that "writers are always selling somebody out." Songwriters, painters, novelists and other creatives channel their life experiences when producing their art. Take my post on Tuesday, in which I passed along advice I heard at a recent writer's conference about building a …
Say ‘Hi’ for Me
It's August in D.C., which means nearly everyone who lives and works here is elsewhere. I'm spending some quality time with my family right now and this blog will be silent for a few days, but below are links to some blogs I enjoy whose authors appear to be continuing to post during the summer …
6 Steps to a Winning Writing Workshop
When you're just starting to share your work as a creative writer, you hear people say they've been "workshopped." When, you might ask, did the word workshop become a verb? It sounds painful, like you've been bent over a sawhorse and violated with a jigsaw. When done right a workshop is far more pleasant than …
Literary Agent = Book Contract?
Literary agents only get paid when a publisher writes a check. So that suggests if an agent signs with you, she must believe she can sell your manuscript. Believing isn't always enough. In perusing Alexis Grant's latest Writer's Round-Up I came across a blog post from literary agent Rachelle Gardner titled "Difficult Conversations II: I …
A Circle of Trust
It's been fifteen years since I've been in a writer's group. Not coincidentally, it's been fifteen years since I was living an art-committed life. Last week I participated in an inaugural meeting of a writer's group. We cobbled ourselves together in various ways -- one posted her card on a writer's center bulletin board, others …
Fear of Rejection
Every writer wrestles with the fear of rejection, their finely crafted words dismissed by agents, editors, publishers, readers, neighbors, spouses, children... well, I'll stop there. But in a guest post I've written for Milli Thornton on the Fear of Writing blog, I discuss another case of fear of rejection, one I faced when embarking on …
Write There: Style is Not a Mystery
Today we're featuring a guest post from Milli Thornton, writing coach and author of "Fear of Writing: for writers & closet writers" (a copy of which is on my bookshelf ). There are oodles of books and courses out there designed to help writers with style and voice. But sometimes trying to learn these things …
The Artist's Road 