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April 11, 2023
Shakespearean Transformations: All’s Well by Mona Awad
Mona Awad’s 2021 novel, All’s Well, follows a drama professor suffering from chronic pain. She’s staging one of Shakespeare’s plays, All’s Well That Ends Well, which is about an orphan named ...
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June 09, 2023
Affirmations for Writers
Pursuing a career as a writer can be hard on your self-esteem. It requires incredible stamina, faith, and unbelievable amounts of patience. Here are some things I like to remind myself of when the urge ...
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July 20, 2023
Read an Excerpt from When It All Syncs Up, Maya Ameyaw's Tale of a Dazzling Black Teen Ballerina
In Maya Ameyaw's new young adult novel, When It All Syncs Up (Annick Press), Aisha seems to have everything going for her. She has a coveted spot in an elite ballet academy, a relentless work ethic, ...
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September 05, 2023
Writing on the Clock
A common question from the published writer is: will I ever earn out my advance? Recently I wondered: what about my stolen time? If I only ever wrote when I was “supposed to” (in periods of grant ...
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December 12, 2023
7 Writing Lessons I Learned from Gardening
I am by no means a capital G Gardener, but planning and tending to my little patio garden brings me a lot of comfort and satisfaction. While getting my garden ready for winter, I found my mind wandering ...
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February 21, 2024
On Writing the Same Book Over and Over
In a 2015 webchat on The Guardian’s site, Kazuo Ishiguro was asked about his varied subject matter. He replied:“My subject matter doesn't vary so much from book to book. Just the surface does. The ...
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October 31, 2024
Alejandra Diaz Roman Explores the Unique and Powerful Cultural Celebration of Día de los Muertos
Alejandra Diaz Roman was raised with the celebration of El Dia de los Muertos, dressing up as a Catrina (fancy skeleton), and participating in the traditions of this important cultural event. It was ...
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April 30, 2025
The Joys of Rereading
Like any other avid reader, my TBR pile can feel out of control most of the time. For me, it’s partly because I’m a mood reader with an aversion to to-do lists of any kind, but it’s also because ...
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May 05, 2025
The Pros and Cons of Beta Readers
I just finished an early draft of a new middle grade novel and realized as pressed “save” that even though it was nowhere near done, I’d taken it as far as I could.It was officially time for a beta ...
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December 21, 2017
Getting Merry with Stephanie Simpson McLellan, author of The Christmas Wind
Are you in the holiday spirit yet? We hope that wherever you are, and however you're celebrating this winter (or getting cozy and skipping the celebrating), you're feeling the magic.To help with that, ...