By Sarah Blanchard The gun shop owners are busy with customers wanting gunsmith services and booking time on the rifle range. They don’t know there’s a troll in their midst. She’s the pudgy, silver-haired grandmother in Wrangler jeans, a buffalo-plaid sweatshirt, and well-worn leather barn boots, casually perusing a display of gun oils and cleaning … Continue reading Avoiding Failure
Tag: writing
Hurricane Lolita: The Art of Sex In Fiction
By Emily McGowan In the summer of 1958, Hurricane Lolita made landfall in the USA. It was not an actual hurricane, but a best-selling novel—an erotic morality tale by Russian-American Vladimir Nabokov—and as critics took notice and controversy began to build, Lolita and its author were tossed into the perfect storm. “He writes highbrow pornography,” … Continue reading Hurricane Lolita: The Art of Sex In Fiction
A Writer’s Take on “Showing vs. Telling”
By Allie Dixon “Your nonfiction is too fictiony.” Sorry, what? This was the recurring feedback from my first ever MFA graduate workshop as an ex-fiction writer turned nonfiction. As annoying as it was, it forced me to explore what writers and readers alike have heard over and over and over – you’re not showing us, … Continue reading A Writer’s Take on “Showing vs. Telling”
The CausewayLit Editors’ Two-Line Book Reviews on Their Pandemic Reads
Hello, CausewayLit readers,My name is Kristen Dalli, and along with Victoria Buitron, I serve as one of Causeway’s Co-Editors-in-Chief. As readers, writers, and lovers of words, Victoria and I compiled a list of our most recent reads to share with all of you. While this hasn’t been an ideal time for many things, it has … Continue reading The CausewayLit Editors’ Two-Line Book Reviews on Their Pandemic Reads
The Writer-Blocking Boogeyman
For me, writer’s block is the boogeyman, and he is one frightening creature. I say, “I am going to write a poem today.” He approaches me with a stern, “No,” and snatches my pencil out of my hand.
Why You Write
So, here you are. You have turned down invitations to parties and happy hours, because you cannot socialize when you have a character in your mind, her voice echoing like a message over a PA system in an empty hallway.