by Jared Harél, TWC Poetry Instructor “The craft of poetry is not easy. It is better than easy. It is joyously difficult.” – John Ciardi As a kid, I was lazy. Really lazy. It wasn’t a decision so much as a fundamental disposition—something innate and…

by Samantha Simeone and Lillie Hannon* It’s with just a touch of embarrassment we admit that we met online, specifically at Archive of our Own, which is a hub for fan-works, exchanging comments on each other’s stories about a children’s movie we both felt was…

by TWC Memoir Instructor Jill Smolowe There’s a piece of advice commonly offered to people stymied by the tendency to procrastinate: focus on the process, not the outcome. This can be wonderful advice for writers when it’s understood to mean that you should concentrate on…

by Christina Kapp, TWC Outreach and Development Coordinator When I was in high school I won a sweater in a raffle. Long-sleeved and cropped, it was made of white angora on one side, black wool on the other, with a braided seam down the middle.…

by The Writers Circle’s Founder/Director Judith Lindbergh 2022 has been a busy year for many of us as we return to life IRL. We are back to commuting to our offices, at least a few days each week. Kids are back in school and life…

by Kris Waldherr, author and TWC instructor As I shared earlier this year here, after three decades as a traditionally published author, I decided to do something very different for my next novel: I set up a small publishing house to self-publish it. In other…

by Mike Allegra, TWC Instructor Years ago, I wrote and edited for an alumni magazine called The Lawrentian, a job that allowed me to meet a lot of fascinating people. One such person was Ken Hakuta, the inventor of The Wacky Wallwalker—a sticky, octopus-ish thing that…

By Rebecca Kilroy, Summer Intensive Coordinator We’ve said it countless times, so much so that it’s become a refrain during the Summer Intensive: we would be lost without our interns. From directing car loops on the very first morning to stacking chairs on the last,…

TWC Instructor Mike Allegra talks about why writing crap can be a good thing. Sometimes I need to get a weird idea out of my system. That’s why my picture book manuscript, Momma No-Nose, exists. Momma No-Nose is the poignant tale of a mom who,…

TWC Instructor Katie Barasch talks about the ups and downs of launching her debut novel As I write this, it’s been a whirlwind month since my debut novel, A Novel Obsession, was published by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The novel follows an…

by TWC Co-Director Michelle Cameron We were understandably nervous as we planned our very first Summer Creative Writing Intensives. What if the teens were bored after the first hour? What if someone burst into tears at a critique? How would we manage those kids who…

TWC instructor Kris Waldherr discusses her journey from traditionally published to hybrid author I’m one of those lucky authors who was able to get published almost immediately out of college. My first book came out in 1988 with an imprint of Putnam Books, one of…