Guest Posts

Haunted By Futility or Saving the World: Writing Climate Crisis by Erica Watson

Over the winter, I spent some time driving to an undisclosed location in the desert with two anarchist medics I’d not met before. The person driving asked me and the other passenger, “What are you reading right now?” You can count on anarchists to never open a conversation with a question about your job. And […]

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Residency? by Ken Waldman

Inspired by a friend who applied for, and received, a three-month internship at a honeybee sanctuary during the pandemic, in early 2021 I applied for more than a dozen writing residencies. Like so many other submissions, this was mostly met with rejection. But also like so much of this work, putting in an initial effort

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The Top Reason for Novel Rejections by Andromeda Romano-Lax

In twenty years of submitting novels for publication, I’ve never received an email from an agent or editor saying, “I can’t take this manuscript, the setting wasn’t clear enough.” Or “…the descriptions weren’t vivid enough.” Or “…I wasn’t dazzled by your use of metaphor or simile.” All of those elements are important, and I do

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Writing the Next Chapter in Anchorage’s MFA Narrative by Emily Tallman

In June 2020, shortly after the University of Alaska Board of Regents voted to cut UAA’s master of fine arts program in creative writing, David Onofrychuk filled out paperwork to launch a new MFA in Creative Writing program at Alaska Pacific University. As associate professor of creative writing and composition at APU since 2010, and

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Here We Go Again: Getting On Top of Time, 2024 Groundhog Day Edition by Andromeda Romano-Lax

What’s your favorite Groundhog Day phrase—the thing you repeat ad nauseum as if expecting life to change when it won’t? Mine is: “Where did the day go?” Or maybe: “I got two-thirds of my goals accomplished today.” But I’d be even more lost if I didn’t track my writing and reading time, something I’ve talked

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A Writer’s Happiness: Perspective Shifts In Search of Writerly Happiness by Andromeda Romano-Lax

With the New Year underway, you may be charging ahead with vigor or smelling the first smoky whiffs of resolution burnout. Either way, you may find yourself wondering, “Enough with all the lists and goals. Can’t I just be happy?” Chasing happiness is usually a futile endeavor, experts tend to agree, especially when one is

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Going Big: Audacious Goals and Important Writing Lessons from the Ironman by Andromeda Romano-Lax

Many of us have goals that feel so big, they’re almost shame-inducing. Why should a goal cause us shame? Maybe because we don’t want to admit our desires, especially if attainment seems unlikely. Maybe because we know that to achieve a big goal would be expensive or demand a lot of time away from our

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