By Matthew Felix “Why do you write?” I had just walked into a busy café. The only seat available was the one across from the man now asking the question. A scruffy septuagenarian with colorful but suspect stories about giving up millions, living with Navajos, and unwittingly making an award-winning documentary, he had also been
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Get Inspired by Art: The Power of Silent Reflection
By Mary Rakow INTRODUCTION This is a startling sculpture by the German Expressionist Rudolf Belling. It was the start of a journey in my writing as I wrestled with story of Cain, an ancient, iconic story given at the start of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. In the last post we saw how a family
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Get Inspired by Art with Mary Rakow: Writing with Hope and Courage
by Mary Rakow INTRODUCTION In an earlier post I suggested that images can be our companions over the course of our writing career. This is true. But we’re not always aware of it. As Steve Jobs said in his masterful commencement address to students at Stanford, “We can’t connect the dots looking forward. We can
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When and How to Work with a Freelance Editor to Publish Your Book
by Kristen Tate You’ve reached the finish line: you have a book manuscript you’ve revised and polished until it reflects your ideas and your vision. What’s next? Some writers will jump right into querying agents. Others will know they want to self-publish. When in the process should you look for professional editorial feedback for your
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Get Inspired by Art with Mary Rakow: What wonder brings to your writing
by Mary Rakow INTRODUCTION: Let’s review Over the past couple of months, we’ve explored how (1) Great art is vast and contains emptiness. When we enter that emptiness, we are changed. When we take our characters into that emptiness, they are changed. (2) Great art can inspire us years after we see it. (3) Art
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The Writer’s Inner Journey: How the subplots in your life support your main story
by Martha Alderson As the world attempts to open up again, it’s easy to want to jump right back into all the activities that brought you joy before COVID. First, take a moment to assess your subplots. I’m not talking about the subplots in your story, but the subplots of your life. In stories, a
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