Or how I learned to stop grumbling and love the conference (and workshops, open mics, and lectures) By Lauren Cusimano I hate writers’ conferences. Or, at least I did until very recently. For years, something about them made me grumpy (please note, I am often grumpy by default). It was maybe the overall message that,
An ode to writer’s events Read More »
Shauna Potocky is a poet and painter who spent a decade as park ranger in Yosemite National Park. She is now a devoted resident of the community of Seward, Alaska. Along with the Kenai Peninsula, it is the inspiration for her second collection of poems and artwork, Sea Smoke, Spindrift, and Other Spells. In this episode, she
AVP 27: Shauna Potocky, Poet, Sea Smoke, Spindrift, and Other Spells Read More »
What if you found out that the main reason most people are on social media is not that they like it, but only because they feel they have no choice? That’s the surprising finding of a 2023 study in which 1,000 US college students were asked how much they’d be willing to pay to use
A Joyless Addiction That—Surprise!—Isn’t Impossible to Quit by Andromeda Romano-Lax Read More »
In a biography of the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev by V.S. Pritchett, I came across these two sentences about the writing of Turgenev’s novel Rudin. “The first draft of Rudin was written in seven weeks. The manuscript was later rewritten, after severe criticism by his friends.” Hah! That made me smile, because the first sentence
In Praise of Beta Readers by Rich Chiappone Read More »
If you don’t have enough time or focus to write—who does?—read this. Do you have a “portable process?” That’s what prolific author Juliana Baggott calls it. Funny how the right label helps. Her advice resonates with something I’ve done on and off for years but underutilized until I made the process more deliberate. “Portable process”
Writing When You’re Not Writing by Andromeda Romano-Lax Read More »
Finding a best reader can be like finding a mentor. They may be out there somewhere in the universe, someone who can not only help your writing, but can change your life. But how do we find this someone? Three years ago, late September 2021, I had time off between attending a family wedding near
A Best Reader by Ken Waldman Read More »
Phoenix Butterfly I always felt invisible, with no color or spark. What did I have to offer? What was there to see in me? Unable to see my colors in the dark. Then I learned to see, thru the love of me; All the things that I could be. Embracing my colors, aiming for the
Spotlight on New Books: Phoenix Butterfly – Path to Authenticity by Sue Lynn Wood Read More »
“Mnemosyne, one must admit, has shown herself to be a very careless girl.” Vladimir Nabokov How many times have you criticized yourself for forgetting something? For me, it was the theme of my summer, as I returned to an unfinished memoir manuscript and found all the places where I would love to write more vivid
Unfairly Maligned Memory By Andromeda Romano-Lax Read More »
What do writing and mindfulness have in common? Well – a lot, actually. Both require that we sit still and focus our attention. Both are a process of exploration, a means of coming to know ourselves and the rest of the world a little better. And both have the potential to be simultaneously challenging and
Nature can fool us. Or more likely, we fool ourselves. We can think that because the vista is stunning, the bay serene, because an eagle is perched close enough to see or even to capture in our digital hands that we have understood it with a panoramic sweep, or for some, with a box ticked.
Reflections on the Tutka Bay Writers Retreat by Kitty Berner Read More »