by Stephanie Morrill | Jun 1, 2020 | Beginning Writer's Guide To Finishing A Novel, Writing Life
Once upon a time, when my daughter was 4, she was obsessed with the idea of getting a robot horse. McKenna was sure that a robot horse was the answer to all her problems. She thought there could be a basket underneath so that the horse could clean her room for her...
by Shannon Dittemore | May 29, 2020 | Author Life, Encouragement, The Craft of Writing, Writing, Writing Life
With three books on the shelf and another on the way, you’d think I’d have a few things about the creative life figured out. But the truth is, I’m always learning. And I think that’s how it’s supposed to be. During my time on the...
by Jill Williamson | May 27, 2020 | poetry, Writing
Just as there is more than one genre of fiction, there is more than one genre of poetry. Over the next few weeks we are going to discuss several different genres of poetry. Today we are talking about free verse poetry. This, for most, is the easiest kind of poetry to...
by Stephanie Morrill | May 25, 2020 | 100-for-100
Confession: I kinda forgot about the 100-for-100 this year. Like most of you, my world got drop-kicked by Covid-19 in March, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to do all the things while all the people are home all the time. At first, I thought 100-for-100...
by Shannon Dittemore | May 22, 2020 | Creativity, Plot, The Craft of Writing, Writing
It’s Friday, beautiful friends! And today, we’re talking about surprising our readers. I have been elated by all the mystery books appearing on the YA shelves these past few years. It’s not a new trend, by any means. Nancy Drew has been solving...
by Jill Williamson | May 20, 2020 | poetry, The Craft of Writing, Writing
Today we are continuing our talk on prosody, or sound, in poetry. While many poems rhyme, they don’t all rhyme in the same way. Take the following excerpts of famous poems, for example. In all honesty, posting only the first verse of these poems isn’t fair, since...
by Stephanie Morrill | May 18, 2020 | Writing Contests
Many, many thanks to our final round judge, Olivia Smit! Olivia was once a participant in our contests but now that her debut novel, Seeing Voices, is out in the world, she’s kind enough to judge for us. Thanks, Olivia! If you entered the contest and have not...
by Shannon Dittemore | May 15, 2020 | Author Life, Brainstorming, Mailbag, Story Ideas, Writing, Writing Life
Happy Friday, friends! Today, we’re answering a question that showed up in our mailbag. You know you can send us questions, right? There’s a form just for that purpose right at the bottom of our homepage. Feel free to drop us a line and, if we’re...
by Jill Williamson | May 13, 2020 | Creativity, poetry, The Craft of Writing, Writing
Over the 2019-2020 winter break, I studied hard to pass a test that would give me an endorsement for teaching English and Humanities in middle school. One thing I had to study a lot of that I previously knew almost nothing about was poetry. Since we have rarely talked...
by Stephanie Morrill | May 11, 2020 | Writing Contests
Congratulations to the following writers who made the top 15 (which turned into 17 because math is hard) in our 100-word contest: AdiAmanda UngleichAnna TaylorAshley SchallerAva RoxaneBethany BaldwinEmily LoJC StonemichaelJoy WoodburyKenzieMara CobbMegan GerigMicaiah...
