Writing Life

The Writing Life: Publish Envy by Hilary Meyerson

May 1, 2012

Jealousy is a bitch. Professional jealousy is a bitch with a book advance.
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Writing Life: What if I never get that book deal? by Lisa Ahn

April 1, 2012

Most writers are seekers, restless. If we were satisfied with the here-and-now, the exactly-as-it-is, there would be no call to wander, to imagine otherwise. We pick at all the seams. We pry the edges of “what if?” We are good at doubt and wonder, at the possible and maybe.
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Writing Life: The fact of the matter: Mythology as creative nonfiction by William Henderson

April 1, 2012

No matter your opinion about John D’Agata, recently under-fire for his slippery (some might say sloppy) handling of facts in his 2010 book, About a Mountain, the use of innovation (read: fudged facts) in nonfiction – which he argues is his right as the author, especially when helping foster a more artistic truth –...
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The Writing Life: Notes from an AWP Virgin by mensah demary

February 29, 2012

The so-called “writing life” will sweep me toward Chicago as the 2012 AWP Conference and Book Fair draws near. This is my first time attending the event; I don’t know what to expect beyond the advice and wisdom espoused by AWP veterans.
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The Writing Life: Tricking the Eye — Beating Writer’s Block with the Dutch Golden Age by Lisa Ahn

February 1, 2012

The blank screen. The blinking cursor. The sudden, irresistible urge to dig out that last chocolate bar from the Halloween stash in the back of the pantry. Writer’s block can take a lot of forms, but it still plays the same old tune, a tick-tock insinuation that maybe, this time, the words are really...
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The Writing Life: Revising by William Henderson

February 1, 2012

Revision. The idea of revision is interesting, especially in terms of revising a memoir, because I have to decide which moments from my life, from the year covered in the book, should stay and which moments should go.
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The Writing Life: Tastes by Hilary Meyerson

January 1, 2012

chocolate chip cookie ingredients mix and egg in a bowl with bowl of chips

I’ve been involved in a love triangle for almost twenty years. My two loves have never met, but the time is coming. My first love is the man with whom I’ve shared my public and private life; the other is my writing, a more private love. One would think they would be easy to...
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Writing Life: Twitter Me This, by Lisa Ahn

December 1, 2011

Twitter is the consummate writer’s salon. Like the salons of old, it is a forum for the exchange of ideas. That alone is a boon to writers – the ebb and flow of “why” and “how.” Politics, philosophy, science, religion and gossip intersect in the slipstream, the crisscrossing currents. Between the spoken and implied,...
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The Writing Life: Writing is simple; all you have to do is sit at a typewriter and bleed by William Henderson

December 1, 2011

Someone once said that writers write the stories that they badly want to read. These stories that writers write in order to read the stories they badly want to read are the stories that writers remember. Sometimes the words are overwhelming, if only because they often live inside for so long. These words become...
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The Writing Life: A Life in Libraries by Hilary Meyerson

November 1, 2011

inside of library with book shelves close up looking down a hallway

In the story of my life, libraries have been the setting. The answers I sought have always been found there, whether I was delving into Yeats’ symbolism or a breastfeeding dilemma. However, it was the question, “What shall I do with my life?” that somehow eluded me for so long. The answer was of...
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