You Must Learn to Challenge Yourself
Sometimes, the only way to grow is to be uncomfortable. When I was growing up, I struggled with pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I was shy as a child and into my teen years, which sometimes made new…
Over, Under, Through, Around: Narrative in Creative Nonfiction
“Narrative is one of the best intoxicants or tranquilizers.” ― A.S. Byatt Sitting on a hard plastic chair in a windowless classroom below the Osborne Center on my college campus, I watched as my creative writing professor went around the…
An Editor’s Tips on Submitting to Literary Journals
So you want to submit to a literary journal. You have a short story, or some poems, or a flashy nonfiction piece that you’re convinced is a sure-fire piece that editors all over the interwebs will be fighting with each…
Are You a Pantser or a Planner?
When I was new to writing, I often didn’t know what I was doing. I spent the valuable (and few) minutes I had every day to devote to writing just floating around in a sea of words. There was often…
What Makes a Good Poem?
When you think of poetry, your mind might go to the classics. Perhaps to Homer’s The Odyssey or to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales — both epic stories told in meter and reflected in the tropes of modern storytelling still used today. Or maybe when you…
Falling Behind in Writing and…Life
A stream of consciousness post… Some days it feels like it takes all I can do to not fall behind on everything. It’s hard enough to go through the day to day–work, food, pets, bills, exercise, grocery shopping, errand running,…
Finding the Time to Write (or Not Write)
Something interesting that I have found about writing is how much I learn about it when I’m not writing. It may sound counter-intuitive, but I almost always find this to be the case. Over the summer I was writing nonstop. …
Don’t Let Fear Get to You
Over the course of the past several weeks I feel like I have been hit with the same kind of advice coming at me from so many different directions: fear is not a reason to say no. Admittedly, I didn’t…
Finding Your Writing Tribe
It’s always amazing to me how spending time with other writers, and learning more about writing, can leave me so incredibly invigorated. This past weekend, I, along with some of the other borrowed solace editors, attended the Pikes Peak Writer’s Conference (PPWC). …
It’s Hard to Find Yourself in the Midst of Life
I am a firm believer in talking about what’s hard. I think it is a disservice to everyone if we ignore what makes us uncomfortable or ashamed. There are things I believe that are hard things to believe, and I…
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