Blog

An Afternoon with Digital Visionary Jason Allen Ashlock

An Afternoon with Digital Visionary Jason Allen Ashlock

Jason Allen Ashlock may not like to call himself an expert, but we at The Writers Circle refuse to consider him anything else. Who but a true digital visionary could take the shaky landscape of modern-day publishing and map such a clear, precise picture of…

Inspiration for the Snowbound Writer

Inspiration for the Snowbound Writer

No matter how old you are, it’s been a tough winter. The prospect of school extending into summer is crushing our youngest writers’ spirits.  And you parents out there are no doubt going stir-crazy with the kids at home. So we at The Writers Circle…

Reading Like a Writer

Reading Like a Writer

One of my teen writers was talking to me about a book she was reading this past week. In the space of three sentences, she had diagnosed why the writer’s technique was working and – even more importantly ― applied what he had done to…

Stuff My Writing Students Say, Part 16

Stuff My Writing Students Say, Part 16

by Lisa Romeo, TWC Instructor “You’re kind of cranky. But in a good way.” Last night, the final night of an 11-week memoir and personal essay class, a writer who attended each session (despite complicating situations in her life), said this to me by way…

Christina Baker Kline: From Mid-list to Bestseller!    A Writer Circle Speaker Series Recap

Christina Baker Kline: From Mid-list to Bestseller! A Writer Circle Speaker Series Recap

“How to become a bestseller?”  It’s the second question on every writer’s mind, right after “How do I get published in the first place?” No matter how many optimistic articles one reads, there’s no magic formula.  According to TWC guest speaker Christina Baker Kline, when…

Gifts to Fill the Blank Page

Gifts to Fill the Blank Page

Holiday time is a hopeful time for writers. We actually think we’ll get something done in those quiet hours between family gatherings – foolish dreamers that we are. Still, there are some basic necessities that help us. For those of you who love a writer,…

Autumn Brings New Authors by Isabella DeFranceschi

Autumn Brings New Authors by Isabella DeFranceschi

We are tickled that The Writers Circle is the subject of this lovely article by one of our students, Isabella DeFranceschi, who wrote it for her high school journalism class. Not only does it show a fine grasp of journalistic form, but she relates the…

The Long and Winding Road (to Publication)

The Long and Winding Road (to Publication)

by Jennifer Walkup I started writing stories as a young girl, became serious about it in high school, and dug deeper into the craft in college and then graduate school. While I had a few short stories published in college and graduate school, I found…

The Waiting Game

The Waiting Game

What a time it has been! I’ve gone from tentatively sticking my toe back into publishing waters to swimming in the whirlpool of anxious possibility… Ah, but you have no idea. Let me explain. I finished my latest novel, Pasture of Heaven, at 10:30 PM…

The Discipline of Short Work

The Discipline of Short Work

In our last post, we invited all our students to submit short stories about our crazy new characters, Amelia, Maurice and Felix. But here, I want to take a minute to speak to many of you who – like me – like to write A…

The Writers Circle’s New Cast of Crazy Characters – and the chance to publish a story about them!

The Writers Circle’s New Cast of Crazy Characters – and the chance to publish a story about them!

It’s time to spruce a few things up here at The Writers Circle. We’ve been using our authentic antique images since 2010. Now it’s time to move into the 21st century. (Well, sort of.) Thanks to the tremendous artistic talents of our very own Amanda…

On Rejection: An Honest Assessment and Some Ways to Survive It

On Rejection: An Honest Assessment and Some Ways to Survive It

by Christina Kapp In book publishing, editors and agents will often refer to a book “finding it’s home” at the right publishing “house.” These are good analogies, because they imply that your fledgling novel, story, or poem will need to do some work looking for…