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Writing the Personal Essay: 8 Common Mistakes to Avoid
Essay is a popular genre. Unfortunately, the number of essayists lobbying for space on the page far exceeds the available slots. For example, The New York Times’ Modern Love column sees thousands of...
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Writing About the Unthinkable with Amy McHugh
Trigger Warning: This Q&A contains content about cancer in children. The first time I read a piece by Amy McHugh, her writing hit me like a truck. She was willing to go deep into a topic that no...
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How to Write with Gratitude
So much of our lives, and our writing, focuses on fear, grief, and loss. The essay examples I most frequently share center around pain of some sort, and most of my students show up to class intending...
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For the Love of Memoir
I intended to get this newsletter out before Valentine’s Day, hence the title. But alas, I was wrapped up in the love of sourdough (thanks to you, Nikki Campo!) and lost all track of time, work, and...
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Commenters: The Good, The Bad, and The Battle Scars
Sometimes publication day is rough. Sometimes it makes you want to hide in a closet. And sometimes, the commenters swallow you whole and spit you out. That’s what happened to me last week when my...
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An Open Chat with Screenwriter Kelly Fremon Craig
Judy Blume’s timeless classic, Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret, hit theaters at the end of April. I had the pleasure of interviewing Kelly Fremon Craig, the screenwriter/director of the film for...
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Should You Use a Pen Name?
If you write personal essays, you’ve probably wrestled with whether the territory you’re covering is too personal, or equally confounding, whether it will upset friends, family, or even strangers on...
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Tiny Love Story Success!
If you’ve been a subscriber to this newsletter for a while, you may recall that I launched a Tiny Love Story (TLS) challenge in 2021 using Facebook Groups—and at least five of our 20 participants...
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How to Write About What Haunts You
For more than a decade, I have been toying with the idea of writing a book around my supernatural connection to my husband’s late wife. I just couldn’t figure out which genre made sense. A novel? A...
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The Case for the Holiday Letter
Ever since I “met” Nikki Campo, and scored a spot on her annual holiday letter mailing list, I have anxiously awaited its arrival every December. The reason: Even if I have a bout of the holiday...
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Dani Shapiro Sheds Light on Memoirs, Novels, and the Writing Life
It isn’t often that you get to meet a writer whose work you have read, admired—and yes, quoted—for more than a decade. For me, that writer is Dani Shapiro. When her book, Still Writing, came out in...
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For the Love of Modern Love: Author Melanie Bishop
Unsplash: Jon Tyson If you’ve been reading my newsletter for a while, you know I’ve been an avid reader of The New York Times “Modern Love” column since its debut in 2004. I frequently share Modern...
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Adventures in Ermaland
Artist in Residence: Bob Eckstein A highlight of the Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop, Eckstein captured the essence of Erma in real time with his incredible illustrations. I’m ashamed to admit that I...
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