Alice Sebold We’re not superstitious around here at the headquarters of the Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference, so it is with great glee that we invite you to the Lucky 13th annual edition of this treasured yearly event from June 13-17. Each year the conference unfolds in its own way, but one constant is the connection …
Erin Hollowell: 2014 Kachemak Bay Writers' Conference Read More »
We’re post-equinox now in Alaska, and the increasing light boosts everyone’s energy. If you’re a writer itching to get out there and do something during these fabulous spring days, you’re in luck. There’s lots to do in Alaska, and beyond, in the upcoming weeks and months. Though she’s not exactly replaceable, I’m happy to fill …
When I talk to writers from other parts of the county, as I recently did at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference in Seattle, I’m secretly thinking of how lucky I am to call Alaska home. We writers support one another in this state, and we also receive a heck of a lot …
Last year, on the October cusp of winter, Joan and I rented a studio space in a building not far outside of Fairbanks. Joan is a potter, and our best Saturdays are spent together here where I write using an old computer and she throws clay on her wheel. She is also a speech therapist, …
Simon Winchester Which prodigious bestselling British-American author was appointed by Queen Elizabeth as an Officer of the Royal Order and plans to mentor Alaskan writers in May? Simon Winchester, bestselling author of two dozen books since 1976, is this year’s North Words Writers Symposium keynote faculty. One of the world’s greatest living history writers, Winchester joins a …
Last year I unexpectedly received a large nondescript cardboard box in the mail. It was nearly a yard square and weighed 35 or 40 pounds. There was no return address. I lugged this awkward, heavy enigma home from the post office, wrestled it through the door and up the stairs into the middle of our …
As you read this, I’m heading overseas on a personal working holiday (with opportunities to promote Alaskan writers) in Austria (which has no kangaroos: they even sell a postcard asserting this). The adventure will culminate in a weekend in Krakow with none other than Alaskan writer Kathleen Tarr. While I’m gone, the roundup will be …
You’ve written your book. You’ve gathered responses from first readers. If you haven’t proven your chops as a developmental editor, you’ve found one to work with. You’ve revised, several times. If you’re not a good line editor, you’ve brought one to your project. Now you’re ready to publish. You submit and submit and submit until …
Tomorrow, my wife Joan and I will begin a slow drive south, to Anchorage and then the Kenai. Homer is the destination, though not really the point. I often create this way. In motion, my mind clears, and, as in sunlight after a storm, worlds both fictional and real reappear. At every stop, I pull …
First thoughts aren’t always best thoughts. When I taught collage comp, I repeated this mantra again and again. Creative writers would also do well to heed this simple advice. As proof, I offer two of my forthcoming books, each of which strayed a long ways from my original vision, and each of which is better …
