Poetry Prompts for Fall
It seems like summer always passes too quickly and winter lasts too long. Maybe that’s why fall is a favorite season for so many people. It seems to hang around just long enough. It’s not too hot, not too cold — a mild, colorful, and comfortable season. Every fall, my creativity goes into overdrive, and…Read More
From 101 Creative Writing Exercises: Potter Wars
101 Creative Writing Exercises is a book on the craft of writing that is jam-packed with fun and practical writing exercises. You’ll learn useful writing techniques while gathering ideas and inspiration for all your creative writing projects. You’ll experiment with fiction, poetry, freewriting, journaling, memoir, and article writing. Today, I’d like to share an exercise…Read More
Fiction Writing: The Setting of a Story
Today’s post includes excerpts from What’s the Story? Building Blocks for Fiction Writing, chapter three: “Setting.” Enjoy! Setting may not seem as critical to a story as character or plot, yet it is a core element of storytelling and for good reason. The setting of a story helps us understand where and when it takes…Read More
Breaking Grammar Rules in Poetry Writing
Accomplished writers respect the rules of grammar the way an acrobat respects the tightrope — grammar might be intimidating and complicated, but we need it in order to perform. Yet sometimes, an acrobat takes her foot off the tightrope. She does a flip or some other trick of physical prowess that seems to defy the…Read More
Writing While Inspired
Today’s post is an excerpt from Ready, Set, Write: A Guide to Creative Writing. This excerpt is from a chapter titled “Writing While Inspired,” which explores the concept of cultivating creativity rather than waiting for inspiration to strike. Enjoy! Inspired Writing Sometimes, inspiration appears out of nowhere. You’re taking a walk, and you’re suddenly struck…Read More
How to Get the Right Kind of Writing Help
I often receive requests from people who are seeking writing help. Some are seeking professional services; they want someone to edit a book they’ve written or coach them through the process of writing a novel. Other times, I get questions about writing that range from simple to complicated. One person might send me a sentence…Read More
Journal Prompts for the Fearless and Fearful
Fears. We all have them, and we all have to face them sooner or later. Some people are plagued with fears that interfere with their ability to live a normal and healthy life. Others dance around their fears, cleverly avoiding those things that give them a nervous twitch. Still more people simply live day to…Read More
15 Quick and Dirty Writing Tips
The first time someone told me, “show, don’t tell,” I had no idea what they were talking about. Show what? Isn’t writing, by its very nature, telling? I was a young writer and didn’t yet understand the many elements of good writing. But I kept hearing that advice over and over: show, don’t tell. Then,…Read More
Story Starters: Ten Fiction Writing Prompts
Fiction writing prompts are a fun and inspiring way to stimulate creativity when you’re in the mood to do a little writing but need some fresh story ideas. Prompts and other creative writing exercises can activate your imagination. Sometimes, prompts and exercises help you come up with new ideas for projects you’re already working on,…Read More
Writing Resources: The Pocket Muse
This post contains affiliate links that earn commissions for this website from qualifying purchases. We writers can’t be inspired every day. Sometimes we get burned out. Other times, our ideas seem unappealing. We find ourselves grappling with an idea that’s incomplete or we might be seeking lots of small ideas for a big project. But…Read More
