Writing Ambivalence
The author of no swaddle (University of Iowa Press, 2025) reflects on approaching uncertainty on the page.
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9,131 Sentences: How One Enormous Spreadsheet Taught Me to Be a Better Writer
Writing a book is a daunting challenge—but the texts we know and love can help. A nonfiction writer describes how a methodically organized spreadsheet of favorite quotes aided her journey from proposal to finished memoir.
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Constancy and Surprise: What Editing Magazines Taught Me About Writing Fiction
A former magazine editor shares how his experience satisfying and subverting audience assumptions during his tenure at GQ helped him better consider reader expectations throughout the novel-writing process.
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Drafting an Artist Statement: Honoring Who You Are and Why You Write
When your work is being judged with all identifying information removed, an artist statement enables you to share who you are as a writer, your motivation, and your influences—creating a map from your now to a dreamed-of future.
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Ten Questions for Lesley Wheeler
“This isn’t writer-stuff, it’s life-stuff that bears on the poems.” —Lesley Wheeler, author of Mycocosmic
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Getting Real About Time: How Data Modeling Can Help You Complete Your Next Big Project
After years spent on frustrating, time-consuming drafts, creating visual models helped one writer to assess the current state of a manuscript, estimate a completion date, and build confidence.
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Openness to Influence
The author of The Boundaries of Their Dwelling argues that writers should be as open to influence during revision as they are at the beginning of a project.
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Ten Questions for Allie Rowbottom
“It’s up to you to advocate for your books.” —Allie Rowbottom, author of Aesthetica
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Ten Ways of Being in the Weeds With Your Novel, and Ten Ways Out
The author of The Boundaries of Their Dwelling counts the many ways a novelist may get lost, but ultimately find a way through, a book project.
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Ten Questions for Aldo Amparán
“I’d tell my past self to trust my work.” —Aldo Amparán, author of Brother Sleep
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