Writing

Giving Feedback While Chronically Nice

Giving Feedback While Chronically Nice

I am one of those people. You know the ones, those that are stuck in Niceville. I don’t want to be mean to people, and sometimes, because I’m chronically nice, it can be hard for me to give constructive feedback.

A recent conversation with friend and fellow writer Dona Fox helped me realize I’m not the only one with this problem.

Your Pants Aren't Fancy

Your Pants Aren't Fancy

Finding time to write can be extremely challenging, especially if you have a family, go to school, or work another job. Or, if you’re like me, you deal with other things that impact your ability to sit for an extended length of time and work. My writing time is very precious to me, and it should be to you, too. If you want to write, and you want to take it seriously, you have to set time aside just for that. Turn off the phone, unplug your modem, do whatever you need to keep focused. 

A Writer's Work

A Writer's Work

I am the least graceful person I know. I have a tendency to fall on my face—figuratively, mostly, but sometimes literally. I can also be a bit… impulsive, making quick decisions without knowing what I’m doing.

Like when I decided I was going to become a writer. I had the writing part down. I put in four hours every night, I workshopped it, I edited it… and that was about as far as I got. I had no idea what to do next.

What does a writer do, besides read and write?

On Class

On Class

A little over a year ago I mentioned that I was going to refocus on my writing and use it as a tool to find meaning in a life that was radically changed. It was pure coincidence that I made this decision around the same time I noticed Richard Thomas—author of both Transubstantiate , and Disintegration, editor of The New Black and Exigencies, and Editor-in-Chief of Gamut Magazine—was teaching a short story class over at LitReactor.