by Katy Kauffman @KatyKauffman28 I never get tired of looking at my mother’s sideboard. Each season, she “scrapbooks” it, decorating the shelves with gorgeous dishes, flowers, and greenery. The details capture my attention, and the loveliness feels like home. For Christmas, pine branches and holly sprigs peek out between ivory…

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson The writer’s life isn’t an easy one. So much of what we create comes from some place deep inside ourselves. Giving that way can be exhausting, not to mention frustrating, when we feel empty. The good news is that there are things we can do to help ourselves. I’ve come to…

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills ’Tis the season of the turkey. If you enjoy eating the Thanksgiving bird, then you love the season. If you’re the turkey, well not so much. You’ve probably spent the past year hatching ways to disguise yourself. For the turkey, I commend his ingenuity. For the turkey-writer,…

By W. Terry Whalin @terrywhalin At every writer’s conference or group of writers, there is buzz around the word “platform.” Editors and literary agents are searching for authors with a platform or a personal connection to their readers. What’s that about? Many authors believe their task is to write an excellent…

By Aaron Gansky @ADGansky I noticed something interesting when I worked as an editor for The Citron Review, the literary journal I founded in 2009. Here’s a quick glimpse of notes I often made to the other editors: Story 1: Sure! But it needs a new title. Story 2: Yes, but it…

By James Hannibal @jamesrhannibal Here we stand on our drop cloth, brushes ready, half-way through the process of touching up your manuscript the way we might touch up a room after painting. Last month, we looked at the first four steps. This month we finish with six more, starting with…