News & Missives

Category: Writer Q&As

Writer Q&As: How do you find new energy in your writing?

I have miles of writing in my journals and notebooks and over the years, I return again and again to themes and issues––is that catharsis, compost or content?

I guess my real question is how to break out of habitual approaches, find new energy in this content, and discern what belongs in poetic voice and form?

…read more

Writer Q&As: When to Stop Revising

How do you know when to stop revising? I presume that if one does get picked up by an agent or publisher they will have their own editor who will ask you to revise again, so when do you know to leave it alone?

…read more

Writer Q&As: Matching a Writer with a VMI Mentor

How do you match a writer/manuscript with a VMI mentor? [Donna Lee Mae]

First, it’s important to say that I’m the matchmaker! However, mentors review the writer’s application I’ve matched them with before I inform the writer whom they will be working with.

…read more

Writer Q&As: Voice and Proximity

Everytime I ask myself a question, I answer it. Lately, this is the question:  how do you find your voice in the telling and not sit too far back? In other words: how do you find that intimate tone when the material is so personal?

…read more

Writer Q&As: Ordering a Poetry Manuscript

I’m a poet who writes sixty or seventy poems and THEN tries to group them into a manuscript. This is a difficult way to find a through line or order as I don’t automatically have a beautiful way to group the poems.

…read more

1 2