When I was a kid, magic was essential to my inner world. I read fantasy books full of witches and magicians and children with innate powers over the elements. I read about magic rings and wishing stones. I read about fairies and their glamours, about dragons and djinns. In The Real World, there was no… Continue reading What Magic We Make
Imagine a perfect morning. You're walking down a cobblestone street. Sun rays peer through leaves in the trees, around roofs and chimneys. A cool breeze bobs the geraniums in the window boxes. You have a coffee or a tea in hand. It is made exactly the way you like, from an open-air cafe just up… Continue reading Short Stories, $1
Feeling stuck? Need some inspiration? Check out a nearly 400-year-old artist's statement by Japanese haiku master Matsuo Bashō and some reflections on how uplifting his thoughts and words are.
I just got back from a week-long novel-writing retreat in Wisconsin. After recovering from the shock of stepping out of the airport into 95ºF with 80% humidity (and it's not even June God help Kansas), I thought I'd share some reflections from that experience. We often think of ourselves as solitary creatures of coffee shops,… Continue reading Writing in Community
As testimonies, tributes, and memorials flood the internet, many refer to the product of Ursula K. Le Guin's writing career, her art, as a body of work. I am fascinated by the phrase. In leaving her physical body, Le Guin draws attention to that other body, the one she built with words. The body she… Continue reading In the wake of Ursula K. Le Guin’s passing
I am not very kind to myself or my writing. It's a funny thing. I am kind when offering feedback on other's work. I always try to give their work in progress the benefit of the doubt. I don't extend this courtesy to my own writing. I'm never really satisfied with my work, and it… Continue reading imposter syndrome: writer’s edition
One of my students is obsessed with the concept of writer’s block. In her mind, writer’s block is this metaphysical monster or force that’s totally impossible to overcome. If she's got it, she finished. She’s right to be worried. An unknown entity that stops her from being able to write completely? Yikes. If her conception… Continue reading writer unblocked
I've been practicing creative writing since I was a kid. Never studied it formally. My education was free at my local public library. After college, I thought, well, heck, I've read all these books. I'm going to write one. So I did. It was bad. I had no idea what I was doing. I could… Continue reading prequel: why write about writing
Allison Wall 