Writing is unexpected therapy--more and more studies are finding this true.  We get healthier the more we write.   How can that happe...

This week, my beginning-level online class is facing the Inner Critic.  I think it's great timing, with the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiv...

A memoirist in one of my online classes was trying to write about the sadness she felt at her father’s unexpected death. Her feedback...

Three elements are essential to all books, no matter the genre:  there must be conflict, there must be believable character (real or imagi...

We all admire wordsmiths, those who can sharpen and hone words until they sing. I have the pleasure of working with many top-notch words...

Fame has always been a hot topic of discussion among writers.  An unsavory one.  A necessary one.  If we long to be published, we ask t...

Can you really self-publish?  Or is it career suicide for a writer?  My indie-released songwriter friends never understood why writer...

As a writing teacher, I deal with discouragement every day.  Not about my teaching, although that can certainly arise.  I face the disco...

Some people love lots of sensory detail in writing.  I'm one of them.  If a writer shows me the place, what the people wear, the sme...

I'm rerunning this post from last winter while I launch my fall semester of online classes this week.  Enjoy! Over the years, desp...