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September 30, 2015
Writing Through Life Change
I used to think that writing was an all-alone endeavor: I thought that all you need is a laptop and some time. I don’t know why I thought that. It’s not true, it turns out. I’ve had help. This help ...
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April 20, 2017
Domenica Martinello on Poetry Exercises
The next writer featured in my series on poetry exercises is Domenica Martinello. She's a writer from Montréal, Québec, and is the author of the poetry chapbook Interzones (2015). She is also an interviews ...
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August 31, 2024
Jennifer Maruno Sends a Young Witch and Her Rodent Sidekick on an Adventure in Broom for Two
Prolific children's author Jennifer Maruno may be familiar to readers of Open Book. In fact, as recently as last week, another title written by Maruno was featured on the site.This time we're sharing ...
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November 02, 2020
If You've Ever Been in Love, Don't Miss This Excerpt from Charlene Elsby's Affect
Our most intense relationships are sometimes the ones that make the least sense from the outside. But what happens when you try to understand and explain of one of those irrational, intense connections ...
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October 31, 2018
November writer-in-residence & Double Debut Author Brian Wilkinson on the Books That Shaped Him
Brian Wilkinson decided to start his publishing life with a bang -- this fall, he's got not one, but two books out with Blue Moon Publishers as a double debut: Paramnesia and Battledoors: The Golden ...
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June 22, 2018
Mentors & Allies 1: Jen Sookfong Lee
Jen Sookfong Lee told me to write a novel. No, wait. I tried to pass off a book-in-progress as a book of short stories and she said it felt more like a novel. I think that was a nice way of saying, Chelene, ...
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June 19, 2019
What Kdramas Taught Me About Storytelling
OK so first I feel like I should explain that literature and TV/film motivate me in different ways. I like to see it as craft vs. content. Books I love or respect teach me about word choice and pacing, ...
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November 02, 2016
The WAR Series: Writers as Readers, with Katherine Ashenburg
Katherine Ashenburg's All the Dirt: A History of Getting Clean (Annick Press) gets pretty filthy, but it's still appropriate (and irresistible) for its middle grade audience, because this dirt is the ...
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March 15, 2020
On Research
I can be nerdy, at times. I love exploring libraries and getting lost in the archives, as one might expect of someone who’s written two historical novels. My first novel, After the Bloom, focuses on ...
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October 18, 2019
Act Now to Keep Seasonal Creativity Disorder at Bay!
It’s not winter yet, but as we head into fall it’s starting to get darker earlier. It’s also getting colder. Maybe some days you’ve even wished you’d worn a light scarf or gloves as you walked ...