A memoirist in my writing workshop was refining a passage in her story about the effect of her father's early death on the family. She w...

Dorothy Allison is the author of Bastard Out of Carolina and many other novels and short stories. Unusual in someone who has had a very dra...

Years ago, I read Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and got the idea of self-assignments, based on writing prompts or seed ideas. T...

I've just spent a few intense days reading the galleys for my upcoming novel, Qualities of Light, which will be published this summer. ...

Do you pursue more than one art form? How does it help your writing? Are you toggling between the arts to good effect? Most days, I write. B...

Striving to get more voice, more emotion in your writing? One of my favorite nonfiction writers, Rick Bass, shares an important clue on how ...

A writer in my Loft Literary Center book-writing class was working on her memoir. She asked a really good question during the weekend worksh...

When I was in the deepest struggle with my novel, Qualities of Light, I took a one-day workshop from author Alison McGhee. Alison has won aw...

My ideal reader is a confused teenage girl; she feels like an outcast because her best friend just moved to Montana and nobody understands h...

A reader wrote: "I'm sure you hear this often--I'm stuck! I am great at first drafts, in fact I'm submerged in them. They n...