I took several courses on Puritan literature at university, as well as several poetry-writing courses. As a result, I wrote a poem about the Salem Witch Trials. I forget about it for long stretches of time. Then, something brings it to mind. Like this article called Are you a good witch? Sewall was the only judge at the Salem Witch Trials to publicly apologize for his role. There was a warning on that summer day, a little oblique perhaps, but still a warning. A crazy Quaker w

Then, out of the blue, you're stuck, can't move forward, feeling dead in the water and staring at the screen. It happens. It happens to plotters and pantsers alike. My writing group engages in group therapy on this particular topic more often than we'd like to admit. An email arrived today that addressed this very topic and offered some sensible tips on how to get back in the game. So dig into Anne Gracie's For writers — When You're Stuck and stop pulling your hair out.

She wrote two novels and thirty-two short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. She was a Southern writer who often wrote in a sardonic Southern Gothic style, relying heavily on regional settings and grotesque characters, often in violent situations. The unsentimental acceptance or rejection of the limitations, imperfections, or differences of these characters (whether attributed to disability, race, crime, religion, or sanity) typically underpins the dram

I've been running the Diction report in the Pro-Writing Aid tool. Let me stop right now to say I love editing tools, so this is not a rant against the tool. I purchased a lifetime subscrition to Pro-Writing Aid, so 'nuff said. But back to that Diction report. It pointed out some "unnecessary" words I didn't know I was in the habit of using. More specifically, it seems I can't go a page without using the word "all". All? I didn't realize it was in my vocabulary, much less tha

Opening credits shown because we haven't heard this music in a long time! If your writing/critique group deals primarily in epic fantasy, or if one of the writers in your group writes epic fantasy, inevitably a comparison or a piece of advice will emerge. It's like a rite of passage or something. 7 Wrong Lessons That Creators Learned From Game of Thrones helps refine your encouraging words in case you're ever tempted to utter advice such as "nonstop mutilation, sexual assault