Opinions

Where New Writers Should Write for Free

Writers long have operated under the belief that they might need to write for free for a while to establish some credibility and earn bylines. But is this still the case? Should you, in fact,...
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Why Classifying Books By Genre Needs to Die

If you go to agent or publisher websites, a common call is for writers to create something entirely fresh, something that doesn’t fit the usual molds. But even with those statements, I’m not at all...

Your Unfinished Writing: Please Don’t Trash It

When I was back in college, I worked at the writing center for the university. Some nights, it would be ungodly slow, and there would be long lulls between helping students with their work. On...

Why Standup Comedians Are the Best Writing Teachers Ever

Image via Canva For a while now, I’ve been indulging in watching standup comedians online during my teeny bits of free time. (Netflix specials are fun, as are the late-night shows.) If you’re a writer...
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Why “Be Patient” Is Crappy Advice for Writers

One of the quirks of being a writer is that you often have to wait weeks or even months to get a response back from editors or their assistants. This isn’t all their fault. Many...
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Pay-to-Read Websites Stink. Here’s Why

I bet you’ve done it--click on a link to a site like The New York Times or Medium, only to have it tell you in a classic pay-to-read setup that you need to buy a subscription to keep...

How Writing Can Heal and Change You

Image created by Wanda Thibodeaux on Canva Most writers say that writing helps them manage anxiety, practice gratitude or thankfulness, and express themselves in a way they otherwise wouldn’t be able or know how to...
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3 Things to Never Say to a Writer

I’ve been writing professionally now for more than 16 years. So trust me when I say you do need to hear some constructive criticism if you want to improve and be successful in this craft....
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Writing Workshops: What Should They Really Teach?

If you want to get better at writing, just sign up for writing workshops, right? Maybe not. How writing workshops meet the need for a little pain In an article for The Practical Writer, Dan Barden argued...
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The Burning Question: How Far Would You Go to Save Your Writing?

I come across intriguing and surprising things on social media just about every day. Today’s prize? This gem from the BBC: Now, this piece is a few years old. But it showed up again on Twitter...