Virginia was embarrassed about her early draft, apologizing in a way like my mother would after cleaning thoroughly for company’s arrival – once guests were welcomed and had complimented her lovely home, she would say “Oh, it’s such a mess.”  This being Virginia’s first time back to writing after a long absence, she sought forgiveness…

5 Writers Respond to Dorothy Parker On Writing’s Beloved Struggle The members of the Creative Writers Workshop were asked to view the image and write a quick, honest and heartfelt response.  At 100 words or less, they could edit this, if needed, but not over think it.  Here are the results — Typing is a…

Just out of college, he had never written a book before, much less hired an editor.  He asked for help from a few friends and his mom, but they didn’t want to hurt his feelings or find flaws with his work.  He needed a professional who didn’t know him to do a thorough cleanup and…

When the young writer didn’t communicate in his usual combination of valley-speak and text-speak, I knew something was up. “I’m crazy-busy,” he spouted, jittery as an overly caffeinated Chihuahua. I paused to inhale, maybe have a thought, so he anxiously interrupted to cement his point. “Like, OMG, cray-cray busy!” Oh, NOW I get it! Sure,…

All the writing for his book was on one flash drive. Bending to the tyranny of fear that harm might come to the computer – a theft, a lightning strike – Bob only wrote on the flash drive, placing it in different spots throughout the house to further protect his work.  Eventually, he couldn’t find…