by Stephanie Morrill | Oct 30, 2025 | Editing, Encouragement, First Drafts, Getting Feedback On Your Writing, Learning from Other Authors, Practicing, The Craft of Writing
In the last few articles, I’ve talked about how to learn from great books as well as how to learn from books you don’t like. There are lots of other ways to learn about the craft of writing, including but not limited to taking classes, attending conferences, reading...
by Stephanie Morrill | Oct 1, 2025 | Learning from Other Authors, Mentor Texts, Practicing, The Craft of Writing
Last week, I had the privilege of visiting the Louvre and Orsay art museums in Paris. One of the sights I most enjoyed was the art students sitting in front of sculptures with their sketch pads on their laps. This feels like a sensible way to learn as an artist,...
by Jill Williamson | Oct 18, 2023 | Creativity, Editing, Guest Posts, Learning from Other Authors, Practicing, Writing, Writing Exercise
Callie Thomas is an indie author who loves all things fairy tales—including twisting tales of her own. Her favorite stories have a mix of sweet romance, laughter, and a pinch of magic. When she’s not writing, she enjoys playing board games, reading at the beach,...
by Stephanie Morrill | Apr 26, 2023 | Creativity, Encouragement, Practicing, Writing Life
There are pieces of the writing life that get easier the longer you’ve been on your journey. Writing a synopsis, for example, used to be a multiple-day process with lots of grumbling. Now I’ve learned what makes it enjoyable for me (doing it before the...
by Stephanie Morrill | Feb 1, 2023 | Brainstorming, Creativity, Practicing, Story Ideas, Writing Exercise, Writing Tools
If you’re a writer, it’s inevitable that you have little sparks of inspiration written down and tucked away in various places. A Google Doc where you dump story ideas. A character idea that you wrote on a napkin. A Post-it where you documented a...
by Stephanie Morrill | Dec 7, 2022 | Encouragement, Getting Published, Practicing, Writing Life
I read a story in Atomic Habits by James Clear that changed how I think about writing. A professor at the University of Florida named Jerry Uelsmann divided his photography class into two groups. Half the class would be graded on how many photographs they turned in....
