I’ve been writing seriously for more than half of my life, and writing for the love of it ever since I could pick up a crayon and write two-word stories about my dog, a champagne cocker spaniel named Muffin who caused a great stir by biting a neighbor child beside our above-ground pool in Theodore, Alabama. Of course, my story contained none of those details. “Muffin bites” was the extent of it, although I did not quite get the spelling right. Muffun bits, I wrote. It was not an elegant beginning, but it was a beginning nonetheless.

I was not…

“The writer’s job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them.” Vladimir Nabokov

Of course, there’s more to plot than getting your character up a tree, but it’s not a bad place to start.

When I made my first attempt at writing a novel about 25 years ago, the most difficult craft issue I faced was plot. I had been reading and writing literary short fiction in graduate school, and one thing we rarely discussed was plot. …

A few months ago, I bought twelve dollars worth of Dogecoin at five cents per coin. I only did it to amuse my teenage son, who was making relentless fun of Doge bros. When I showed him the transaction, he started laughing hysterically and said, “You just threw away twelve dollars!” My husband said cheerfully, “Don’t tell your mom about Reddit memes. She’ll buy anything.” The two of them made jokes about buying me a garbage can where I could stash my money. Perhaps I’d like to keep my purse by the toilet? They started calling me Doge Mom. …

Flash fiction is one of my favorite forms of narrative to write and to read. I enjoy writing it because I can take a break from a novel-in-progress and complete a flash fiction in an hour or less, which gives me a sense of forward momentum. As a reader I can take a few minutes to absorb a flash fiction and feel that I’ve been refreshed, or maybe shored up, or possibly even levitated, depending on the story.

For the Fiction Attic Press Flash in the Attic series, which I’ve been editing since 2012, I define flash fiction as stories…

Note: I wrote this in October, 2020, but I got busy, never quite finished the post, and didn’t publish it. I’m publishing it now, from home in California, as I look back on those last months in Paris during the pandemic.

It’s hard to believe we are now in month nine of the pandemic. While Paris is quieter than usual, carousels are running, residential neighborhoods are bustling, and many restaurants are crowded (unfortunately) during lunch hour. …

Lately, I’ve been drawn to personal narratives — particularly memoirs of the writing life. I keep coming back to books that are not about writing so much as about the daily experience of being a writer, the act of making one’s way through everyday existence (children, roof leaks, marriage, moving) while attempting to inhabit a life of the mind.

When my writing comes to a halt, personal narratives by writers help me get back to that coveted interiority, the quiet brain space necessary for the act of making something. …

So you want to write a novel, but you don’t know how to begin. Maybe you tried writing a novel in the past but didn’t finish. Maybe you took writing classes in college or even completed an MFA, but you need guidance and inspiration to get to the next level.

In Novel in Nine, you will write a complete first draft of your novel in eight months and devote the ninth month to revision. The program consists of a targeted series of progressive video and written lessons, assignments, worksheets, self-assessments, and word count check-ins.

Great novels don’t happen overnight. In…

“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.”

― Lao Tzu

When I surveyed writers last year, 39% said the biggest thing stopping them from writing was finding the time.

Your days are packed, your schedule is busy, people want and need things from you. That is true today, it was true yesterday, and it will be true tomorrow.

Your circumstances may change, becoming “easier” or “more difficult,” but it is unlikely that vast amounts of unused time will suddenly open up.

There are 1,140 minutes in a day. The…