The Self-Made Writer

Whoever came up with that bit about the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow was a writer. I know this for certain because I’ve searched cert...

We all know how characters are revealed: by what they do, by what they say, and by what others say about them. Not a bad place to start, bu...

A stranger comes to town. Someone goes on a journey. The old adage claims every story is either one or the other. But where are these charac...

You have to love wikiHow. Impressed by the abundance of metaphor in Karen Russell’s  Swamplandia!  and a handful of lines in a  G.C. Waldr...

I love revising. Really. But it’s hard, and harder still to teach. If you don’t believe me, plant yourself among inspired third graders with...

Some call it resilience, but I think that’s too nice a word, too easy. I prefer bounce, because it often comes with a smack, and the whole g...

A good style should show no signs of effort.  What is written should seem a happy accident.  ~ W. Somerset  Maugham They’re tiny and seemin...