Writing
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The Six-Figure Promise: A Look at Three Sellers of Cyber-Success

As a follower of a few Facebook groups for writers, I’ve been surprised by the comments of some members who lament that they have written a book, edited it and formatted it themselves, and uploaded it on Amazon. Why does it have no buyers? Why aren’t they making any money? What would give these writers… Continue reading
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Blog Post, Interrupted

Several weeks ago at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention, I presented a paper titled “Othering the Self: The Potential Benefits of Assigning College Students to Write Personal Narratives from a Second Person Point of View.” I intended to blog about my presentation immediately after the conference. But when I returned … Continue reading
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The Letter “A” Is Yellow

This semester I assigned my creative writing students to write a concrete poem—one in which words are placed on the page so that they create an image that helps to convey the poet’s message. One student wrote her poem in the form of a square. When we workshopped it in class, I suggested that the… Continue reading
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Write the Book You Want to . . . wait . . . what?

If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it. Toni Morrison Who are we writing for, anyway? Since Toni Morrison died in 2019, I have encountered many times the above comment attributed to her. And every time I think of it, something about it… Continue reading
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The Power of Surprise in Personal Creative Nonfiction

People today are over-entertained. They are barraged by a haphazard mix of useful and useless information. They are word-wearied. As writers, if we want to attract and maintain the attention of today’s overstimulated readers, we must show them something new. As a late-career English professor, I sometimes feel that I have seen it all. This… Continue reading
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Writing about Our Obsessions

At a writing workshop I attended several years ago, the facilitator said, “Find your obsession, and write about it.” I have to admit that I was resistant to the idea. An obsession is not necessarily a healthy or positive thing, right? I mean, I thought about my obsessive need to check repeatedly to make sure… Continue reading
Do you write about yourself and your experiences? Do you write about traumatic events in your life? Or, do you struggle to find time and motivation to write?
If so, this blog is for you.
