» A Guest Author

3 Simple Ways to Increase Your Word Count and Finish Your Book

By Delaney Diamond I’m a full-time romance author, and I can tell you that writing full-time means I regularly generate story ideas. So many ideas, in fact, that I have a file where I list them and drop notes for future books. Though I’m excited by many of those stories and can usually get started…

Issue Six Hundred Fourteen Special Feature

Navigating Revision and Editing Without Losing Your Voice

By Sabyasachi Roy Imagine you are writing a draft. Putting your thoughts out into the world. Raw and unfiltered—a little messy, slightly little chaotic, but undeniably yours. Now comes editing, and this is where the real magic happens. Or, let’s be honest, this is where your manuscript risks turning into a lifeless, over-polished chore. How…

Issue Six Hundred Thirteen Special Feature

Building a Writing Career from Small Wins

By Sabyasachi Roy Writing careers are not made overnight. Almost no one starts by landing a book deal with Random House or, for that matter, scoring a column in The New York Times. It is about piecing together a mosaic of small wins. Most successful writers had to follow this labored path — tiny, unimpressive…

Issue Six Hundred Eleven Special Feature

Writing in the Age of Short Attention Spans: Crafting Stories that Stick

By Sabyasachi Roy Let’s start with the elephant in the room, a.k.a. to the point: people don’t have the patience for long-winded setups anymore. Like it or not, we are in the middle of a world of endless swipes, dings, and dopamine hits. This presents a high-stakes challenge, especially for writers, how do you keep…

Issue Five Hundred Sixty Nine Issue Six Hundred Nine Special Feature

Writing Without an Audience in Mind: Embracing the Journey of Self-Expression

By Sabyasachi Roy Most writers, if not all, start their journey with aspirations of getting published. This includes the dream of gaining recognition or connecting with a wide audience. There is, however, a frequently neglected element of writing. It possesses a transformative potential, and that is creating solely for oneself. We live, whether we like…

Issue Six Hundred Eight

RESEARCH: What To Look for and Where to Find It

Nancy Burkhalter, PhD Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, regardless of genre or topic, research will probably be on your agenda; for historical novelists, it is de rigueur. So, where to start? The acronym PERSIA may help. Each letter stands for a category of analysis: Political, Economic, Religious, Social, Intellectual, and Artistic. Facts drawn from…

Issue Six Hundred Seven

9 Reasons Why I Love Having My Newsletter on Substack

By Isha Jain Fed up with the long waiting periods and numerous rejections, I started publishing stories that couldn’t find a home elsewhere on Substack. What started as a way of publishing my work has now become a full-time focus for me due to the various advantages Substack provides to the creators. Here are some…

Issue Six Hundred Five

Writing Fiction: When to Consider Summary

By Sherry Shahan As a fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants writer, my early drafts spill over with excess words. I’m fascinated by my characters and long to be part of their daily lives. Pages fill as soon as my protagonist rolls from bed each morning. And then there’s breakfast . . . The show-don’t-tell edict was etched into my…

Issue Six Hundred Four

National Parks and Creative Nonfiction: How Unexpected Writing Opportunities Can Boost Your Literary Career

By Felix Bill If you’d told me a year ago that my first three publications and my first writing grant would be for creative nonfiction, I’d have been baffled. When I started writing, my stories were dyed-in-the-wool speculative. Amid myth retellings and narratives that go bump in the night, I never expected to write anything…

Issue Six Hundred Three

The 4 Best Techniques for Revising Poetry

By Rebecca O’Bern Based on my time in Southern Connecticut State University’s MFA program and subsequently running the manuscript review service of Mud Season Review, what I learned is that “the key to the universal is through the specific.” You can’t write poems that connect with readers unless there’s clearly a person behind the scenes,…

Issue Six Hundred Two

An Unexpected Journey: My Path to Publishing When Fragments Make a Whole

Lory Widmer Hess I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Reading was my passion from a very early age, and authors seemed like gods to me, as they connected with the creative impulse and gave it form. I could think of no greater vocation than to do what they did, producing more of the kind…

Issue Six Hundred One

Overcoming the Loneliness of Being a Writer

By Emily-Jane Hills Orford Loneliness is something that can affect anyone, anywhere. You could be in a crowded room and still feel the overwhelming weight of loneliness. There are some jobs that make loneliness a handicap and, yes, writing is one of those jobs. It’s a very lonely occupation. In fact, writing as an occupation…

Issue Six Hundred Special Feature

“Are You a Good Writer?”

By Jessi Waugh We sat together at a bistro table in a one-hundred-year-old building, during the monthly writer meet-up. It was intermission time – an opportunity to order wine, socialize, or run away before the prompt writing and critiques began. Sensing her imminent escape, I struck up a conversation with the woman across from me….

Issue Five Hundred Ninety Nine Special Feature

One Day It Happens: How One Author Got Published Just Before Turning 70

By Mary Lou Dickinson After I retired from my job at the Assaulted Women’s Helpline, I was determined to have a book published. Following almost a lifetime of writing and raising two children as a single parent as well as working at various other jobs, there were a few of my short stories in literary…

Issue Five Hundred Ninety Eight

What I Wish I Knew Before I Signed My First Book Deal

By Patricia Westerhof Before I sent out my first book-length manuscript for publication, I’d spent a total of two days learning about the publishing industry. Pretty much everything I knew came from a weekend workshop: a beginner’s guide to getting published, taught by the former president/publisher at Penguin Canada. I followed the steps she suggested,…

Issue Five Hundred Ninety Seven Special Feature

Articles by A Guest Author