Given my chaotic schedule these last few weeks, I’m relying on the wisdom of some good friends in the extended network of writers in our area to fill you will some hope and guidance to move forward with your writing. From my friend Christina Baker…

Creativity, Imagination and Play are the most critical tools of writing. Childhood is filled with storytelling and imagination games. Then why, by the time our kids reach 3rd or 4th grade, aren’t they all writing amazingly creative, imaginative stories? For many children, the words –…

Thank you to Lois Cantwell for interviewing me in Maplewood Patch: The Arts: Patch Profiles Local Novelist Judith Lindbergh I’m honored to be the subject of your first Arts feature!

I walked rather blindly into writing historical fiction. Or perhaps it walked into me. For example, I was ignorant to its stigma as a genre, kindred to those other literary stepchildren, science fiction and fantasy. I had never read what Hilary Mantel, winner of this…

My husband and I have been rebuilding our front porch stairs this week – all week literally pouring concrete, measuring and cutting wood, drilling, screwing and nailing. For any of you who’ve seen my house, you’ll know that this was a very necessary improvement to…

What the heck is a VOOK? It’s been all the buzz in the publishing industry lately. Apparently (and I haven’t seen it yet) it’s a digital book with video. The books are mostly short, with fiction and non-fiction titles including a couple written by bestselling…

I fear this satirical jab at the reality of publicizing new books in this age of digital everything is all too familiar to those of us who’ve been through it or anticipate stepping into the fire again. Check it out, and try hard to laugh…

Thinking about mentors and what they’ve meant to me, I came across an essay by Joyce Carol Oates, In the Absence of Mentors/Monsters, from this Fall’s issue of Narrative. (You have to create an account, but you can read the article for free.) I was…

From the start of The Writers Circle, I made it my weekly habit to share interesting readings about writing, publishing and the writing life. The very first one, I recall, was Francine Prose’s Atlantic Monthly article “Close Reading” which introduced the core topics of her…

Just a quick note as some of you have asked about paying fees for entering literary contests. Yes, in the old days, paying fees to enter would’ve been a sure sign of a scam. (And it’s still absolutely verboten for a legitimate literary agent to…

I came across several writing contests that look really intriguing: Narrative’s FALL CONTEST is open to all fiction and nonfiction writers. They’re looking for short shorts, short stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, all forms of literary nonfiction, and excerpts from longer works of…

I’m pleased to introduce our first guest blogger on The Writers Circle, historical novelist Michelle Cameron, the author of “The Fruit of Her Hands“. “Connecting with Other Writers” My son, a somewhat arrogant aspiring writer of 19, tells me that writing blog entries is going…