Writerland

In the comments section of my post on How to Critique Other Writers’ Work, a debate ensues. When using the sandwich approach (two slices of positive feedback with a glob of criticism in the middle), do the positive and critical parts of your sandwich need to be equal? If a manuscript needs a lot of [...]

A post by my friend Sierra about her toxic critique group inspired me to remind people how to give critiques of other writers’ work in a writers’ group or workshop.
The sandwich method always works best: Start by saying something positive, followed by your constructive criticism, and then end with another positive comment. The reason for [...]

Some of my earliest memories are of my mom and dad reading books—my dad political fiction and biographies and my mom historical fiction and romance novels. I think my mom spent every minute she wasn’t cooking a meal or cleaning the house lying in bed with a book. At the age of six I remember [...]

A hallmark of literary fiction and memoir that distinguishes them from genre fiction is figurative language. While genre fiction (mystery, sci-fi, chick lit, fantasy) focuses mostly on plot and narrative, literary fiction focuses more on character and style, and style is often achieved through the use of fancypants language like metaphors and similes. I am [...]

It’s been three weeks since I posted links! So here we go …
In random tech/social media news: Here are 10 Tips for being awesome online, a post on how to get more Twitter followers, and the best book editors on Twitter.
In all things iPad: From the New York Review of books, the iPad vs the [...]

When I was in my MFA program taking my first creative nonfiction writing workshop, my professor commented on the difference between the author, the narrator, and the character of a book and then rattled off the difference between the three. “Huh?” I said. And she rattled it off again. “Huh?” I don’t know if she [...]

It’s going to be Tuesday by the time I get this post out, but it must be Monday somewhere in the world? In Hawaii maybe? Alaska? Today, since it’s past my bedtime, here are seven tips for writing a great memoir. I’ll go into them more in depth in the coming weeks.
1. Don’t worry about [...]

First, I just have to say, this is my 100th blog post! I started Writerland in November, and so far I’ve made some really wonderful blog buddies (Sierra, Kristan, Jackie, Kristen, Christie, and J.P. to name but a few), and I want to thank you all for stopping by on a regular basis. It’s people [...]