By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Do you feel your writer’s voice is blocked? Does a well-meaning reader claim your writing voice is just like__________ (fill in the blank)? Are you frustrated in a futile attempt to sound like yourself and not another writer? Then stop! A writer’s voice can’t be taught.…

by Larry J. Leech II @LarryJLeechII Sun. Sand. If not sand, maybe a pool instead. Or maybe a nice, quiet cabin in the woods. Whatever your pleasure, a good book, or books, is necessary. With summertime is here, compiling a summer reading list might be near the top of your…

by Katy Kauffman @KatyKauffman28 You might say yes. How many of us have cried when we’ve been frustrated with the writing process? Or when we’ve been in the editing stage and just wanted to finish? But have you ever cried when you wrote something because you realize full force just…

By Debb Hackett @debb_hackett We’re in contest season and it’s always proposal and submission season. But not everyone wins or gets offered a contract. Disappointment is as much a part of writing, as breathing. Therefore, managing your actions and feelings when you’re not successful is crucial. Over the years I’ve…

By Aaron Gansky @ADGansky Charles Baxter, in Burning Down the House, Essays on Fiction, devotes an entire chapter to a principle he calls “Stillness.” To paraphrase a rather lengthy and well documented argument, he proposes that stillness, a moment in fiction where action subsides and characters/narrators focus on the minutiae of their…

by Cindy Sproles @CindyDevoted I opened the manuscript and began to read. Nice description, story seemed interesting but two chapters in, I still knew nothing about the protagonist. What happened? The writer had laid some good building blocks, but what happened to the protagonist. The best way I can explain…