If you’re an aspiring writer, you’ve probably heard every bit of advice under the sun. “Write what you know.” “Show, don’t tell.” “Kill your darlings.” All good, all true. But here’s one you may not have heard yet: Write scared. Let me explain. When I say “write scared,” I don’t mean writing while checking over…
Blog
b.read.crumbs : I Believe Dolly Parton Can Save Us
writers on the writing life I don’t take direction well. This month’s prompt-Create your writer’s manifesto—reminded me of the credos that we were assigned to write in Mrs. Drello’s high school English class. Naturally I defaulted to listing things I believe, my personal credo, rather than crafting a manifesto, because I know a lot about…
Write Your Yoga Story—and so it begins
I had a cunning plan. I’d offer a workshop, Write Your Yoga Story, as both a digital program and a hard copy-snail mail program (via Stamp Fans), but I couldn’t work out the timing. The final decision is to offer the course only via Substack for now—one lesson per week for six weeks—with an option…
Real American Hero: Lt. Kara Spears Hultgreen
What’s this about? Kara Spears Hultgreen[was the first female carrier-based fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy. She was also the first female fighter pilot in the U.S. military to die in a crash. Hultgreen was a Distinguished Naval Graduate of the Aviation Officer Candidate School at Naval Air Station Pensacola. She was one of the…
b.read.crumbs : Truth or Dare
Julie and I changed horses in the middle of the creek, moving from fairy tale prompts for our b.read.crumbs posts to Truth or Dare prompts (these come from a card deck provided to attendees at the 2022 MTSU Writers Conference. I recommend it for many reasons, not just the cards.) This month, I drew a…
3 Questions & a Pose ~ Susanna Barkataki
Wherein my guest, a yoga instructor and writer, answers three questions and shares one (sometimes more than one) pose that yogis and writers will find informative, intriguing, and entertaining. Question 1 Which came first, your yoga or your writing? Yoga definitely came first for me. I began practicing as a child through the teachings of…
Brandi Bradley – 3 Questions & a Cover
A short interview wherein one of my favorite authors answers three questions about the writing life. Question 1 In what genres have you written, and which one of them gives you the most satisfaction? I feel like I’ve tried just about every genre. I was a reporter writing on the events of the day. I’ve…
b.read.crumbs: In which Deb and Julie Switch Gears
Sometimes, change is welcome…but friendship is eternal, if you work at it. Julie’s b.read.crumbs offering this month is a reminder that we can walk away from what no longer serves us. So I was all set to write a thing about The White Cat, and suddenly (okay, maybe this has been building) I just could…
The Author’s AI Toolkit: From Concept to Publication by Hank Quense - a review
You don’t have to like it, but every writer needs to accept that AI offers some advantages. Hank Quense can help you figure out what those are, which ones apply to you, and how to make use of the increasingly advanced software that has changed the literary landscape. AI has us all in a tizzy,…
Ann Fisher-Wirth ~ 3 Questions & a Poem
3 Questions and a Poem–in which one of my favorite poets is interviewed and shares a poem. Question 1 What do you consider the three most important elements of a poem? “A poem is a small (or large) machine made out of words,” William Carlos Williams once wrote. When I first encountered this remark I was…
