Monthly Archives: January 2025

How a Reading Audit Can Elevate Your Writing

After attending AWP’s conference in 2021, I took a serious look at the books I was reading. This changed the way I write permanently. The idea of doing a reading audit—looking back over the books you read in a year’s time, specifically tracking the identities of the authors—had never occurred to me. I generally read […]

How to Market Your Book Successfully with Ingram iD

As an author, marketing your book can be overwhelming. You’re a writer, not necessarily an award-winning marketer. With countless titles published daily, you know marketing is critical, but how do you make your book stand out to the right readers? Effective book marketing hinges on reaching the right audience with the right message. That’s where […]

A Time to Listen: The Art of Good Communication in Journalism

“If we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two tongues and one ear.” -Mark Twain In journalism there’s a time for everything. A time to ask tough questions, to probe and prod. A time to demand answers and hold leaders accountable. A time to be tough and unwavering while seeking […]

Making Use of Storystarter Scenes in Fiction

The protagonist of my new thriller, The Mailman, couldn’t be more different than the main character of my long-running private eye series. But both share in common adventures that grew almost entirely from an introductory scene popping into my head. I call these “storystarter scenes,” with a nod to those firestarter sticks so useful in […]

Maggie Su: I Imagine This Book as a Love Letter to My Younger Self

Maggie Su is a writer with a PhD in fiction from the University of Cincinnati. Her work has appeared in the New England Review, Four Way Review, TriQuarterly Review, Puerto del Sol, Juked, Diagram, and elsewhere. She has edited for publications such as The Georgia Review, Cincinnati Review, and Indiana Review. She currently lives in […]

The Burden of Your First Five Pages

Noah Lukeman, in his book The First Five Pages (published in 2000), says “Over the years I’ve read thousands of manuscripts, all, unbelievably, with the exact same type of mistakes. … Writers are doing the exact same things wrong.” I’ve found this to be spot-on in the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of manuscripts I’ve edited and […]

The Art of Writing Deceptive and Unreliable Narrators in Thrillers

Crafting a convincing unreliable narrator might be one of the most difficult things a thriller writer does. Of course, a narrator doesn’t have to be unreliable. A perfectly dependable narrator is often just what the thriller reader needs. A voice of reason and stability thrust in the midst of chaos. Sometimes we want that level-headed […]

Susan Barker: Few Writers Can Turn Out an Exceptional First Draft

Susan Barker is the author of four books. Her third novel, The Incarnations, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and Notable Book, a Kirkus Reviews‘ Top Ten Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction. An excerpt from Old Soul won a Northern Writers’ Award for Fiction in 2020, […]

Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 728

For this week’s prompt, write a friend poem. Your friend poem could be about a friend, dedicated to a friend, explore friendship in general terms, discuss how hard (or easy) it is to make friends, and so on. Let’s get friendly this week. Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your […]

‘Ephemeral Blessings’ and other poems

By: Karlo Sevilla Ephemeral Blessings Dusk, and on the sand we stand quite far apart.Beyond, the sea unfurls towards us, wave after wave. I’m a hundred steps behind youas you likewise face the drowning sun.You, ankle-deep in saline water, wind-blown haira flag of frantic arms reaching out to me. Above, the clouds are scattered fluffs […]

The Little Red Popcorn Maker

By: Erik Priedkalns             James brought home the Little Red Popcorn Maker years ago. It looks like one of those carnival fortune teller booths. It has big, round, wood spoke wheels, and golden tow arms. I could see why he picked it out for the prize at the school fair. When James went to college, […]