So You Want to Be a Poet
You can do it! But maybe do these things first… So you want to be a poet. You have decided that you’re going to become the next great Instagram poet and land a lucrative book deal. You want to bring…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Writing After You Get That Degree
Or, alternatively, things I wish someone would have told me. You will most likely forget to write. I know it seems impossible while you are in college immersed in writing everything from research papers to your weekly calendar, but you…
The Circle of Life (and Writing)
If you read the title to this post and instantaneously thought of The Lion King, know that this was the goal. Well, that and some other things that I’m planning to address in the coming paragraphs, but it is my sincerest…
Fighting Distraction While Writing
Sometimes, I find that distraction can be a good thing. At this moment in my life, I am slogging through the last semester of my undergraduate degree and impatiently waiting to hear back about whether or not I have gotten…