In my own worst seasons, I've come back from the colorless world of despair

In my own worst seasons, I've come back from the colorless world of despair by forcing myself to look hard for a long time, at a single glorious thing: a flame of red geranium outside my bedroom window. And then another: my daughter in a yellow dress. And another: the perfect outline of a full, dark sphere behind the crescent moon. Until I learned to be in love with my life again. Like someone recovering from a stroke, retraining new parts of the brain to grasp lost skills, I have taught myself joy, over and over again.

—Barbara Kingsolver, "High Tide in Tucson"

(This might not sound like a writing quote, but I think this is also how we teach ourselves to see, over and over, and how we write.)

There are three rules for writing a novel

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

—Somerset Maugham (probably)

Upcoming classes!

Online class: Next session starts tomorrow 4/30. Join us! The theme is "Sprint!" Get a lot of pages written in the next four weeks. More info here.

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Online one-on-one: Personalized exercises with feedback, discussion of story issues and writing habits, and help with schedules and deadlines! $70/week. Click CONTACT ME on the right to let me know if you'd like to do this.

Year of Your Book at Hudson Valley Writers' Center: Next session starts Wednesday 5/2. As in the online class, our theme this session will be sprinting to get pages written before summer rolls in. Ending with a short period of revision and a workshop. Open to everyone with the desire to write a book and willingness to work. No experience necessary! More info here.

Fiction Deep Revision at Hudson Valley Writers' Center: Next session starts Monday 4/30. For anyone who's revising a novel or story collection. pre-summer sprint, and focus on craft, are the themes this session. More info here.

As always, I'm available for a close reading/edit of your novel or stories. Click CONTACT ME and send me an email if you'd like to know more.

Also:

I'll be teaching at the Yale Writers' Workshop in early June. Applications for this year are closed, but check out the program if you're interested for next year, and let me know if you'd like to hear more about it. This will be my seventh year, and I'm happy to chat about what it's like and whether it will suit your needs. Info about Yale Writers' Workshop here. 

Online Fiction Class for April/May

I have an online fiction class that runs all year, this year. It's called "Keeping Going."

Each session is four weeks, and this one's theme is "Sprint!" The idea is a monthlong push to get a lot of writing done before summer rolls in.

Messiness and experimentation are encouraged! I'll challenge you to meet goals and deadlines. There will be twice-weekly exercises, with feedback, which will be part of writing your way forward (so you won't be stopping your progress to re-focus and do an exercise).

$125 for four weeks. Starts Friday 4/27. Click the CONTACT ME link on the right to let me know if you'd like to join!

Bragging!

I'm bragging! I'm honored to have been part of this book's journey. And I want to add "astute ass-kickings" to my CV. The Runaways by Sonya Terjanian.

Online fiction class: "Keeping Going"

For the next session of my online fiction class, Keeping Going, I'm considering a more structured approach than past sessions. 

There would be a set goal (drafting one chapter or one story), and assignments geared toward that, with due dates. All assignments will be short and will work as part of the chapter-writing process-- so they won't take away from your writing time. 

As before, I won't read all of everyone's prose, but will respond to all exercises and questions and requests for specific kinds of help (e.g., "I need an aid for figuring out plot.") --Does this sound like something that would be useful/enjoyable? 

Tell me what you think by using the CONTACT ME form on the right!

Give it all

Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now.

—Annie Dillard