Alison McGhee, writing instructor and author of many wonderful novels including Shadow Baby, once taught a very effective exercise in a wri...

In her excellent book on writing craft, Listen to Me, memoirist Lynn Lauber writes: "If you find yourself telling the same story over a...

Sometimes the best writing comes when we're slow, dreamy, not thinking about accomplishing anything. Does this happen to you? Maybe it...

A book-writing client talked with me this week about having an ongoing spirit of gratitude for her characters. She regularly notes on paper...

Pacing—a delicate affair in writing a book—depends on a balance of expanded and contracted moments. Good pacing creates a rhythm between the...

Hollywood script doctor John Truby says that successful movies are written with images first, words second. We are such a visually oriented...

How closely do your writing and life intersect? How can they support, even feed, each other? This week's exercise can be transformationa...

A writer from Minneapolis emailed me: "I just came across an idea for your writing exercises. You may have heard of it already, but it...

Anton Chekhov wrote, “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” Showing is a demonstration of emotio...

William Wordsworth said, "Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart."  We're not all poets.  But all of us have these ...