March 2021

The Writer

Advice and inspiration for today’s writer

The Writer3 min read
Light On The Horizon
When I agreed to move to Alaska, I didn’t fear the cold; I’d weathered enough frigid, snowy winters elsewhere to have some idea of what I was getting into. But I was scared of the dark. In the shortest days of winter, my town gets about five and a ha
The Writer1 min read
The Writer
Senior Editor Nicki Porter Contributing Editor Melissa Hart Copy Editor Toni Fitzgerald James Applewhite, Andre Becker, Eve Bunting, Roy Peter Clark, Lewis Burke Frumkes, Gail Godwin, Eileen Goudge, Rachel Hadas, John Jakes, John Koethe, Lois Lowry,
The Writer1 min read
2021 Essay Contest
Write nonfiction? You don’t want to miss this contest, which offers a $1,000 grand prize and publication in our magazine to the winner. Submit your best essay in less than 2,000 words by March 10, 2021, for your chance to win. Learn more at writermag
The Writer4 min read
Michael Martone: More Blot Than Plot
The kind of writer I am just does not think of projects being started and stopped. I heard someplace that Steve Jobs designed the “off/on” button on his devices to be difficult to use. Once the computer was “on,” he wanted it to stay “on.” “Sleep,” m
The Writer2 min read
Virtual Events For Writers
March 3-7 After proceeding with a controversial in-person conference last March, AWP vowed to go entirely online for the 2021 gathering, offering discounted registration rates for all attendees. If you’ve always wanted to experience the largest writi
The Writer1 min read
Expand Your Mask Library
“Open a book, open your mind” reads this colorful face mask from Out of Print – and as an added incentive, a portion of every sale goes to support the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (BINC). $14, outofprint.com All proceeds from this mask, which
The Writer5 min read
Your Home Page Is Where Your Heart Is
In one of the classes I teach at Southern New Hampshire University’s MFA program, we spend a good amount of time on platform. (Loosely defined, this is essentially a writer’s capability to sell books based on their own network. But that’s a topic for
The Writer4 min read
2021 Spring Book Preview
Rachel Hawkins, bestselling author of a number of books for young readers (Her Royal Highness, Prince Charming), is releasing her first book for the adult market, a much-anticipated thriller that retells Jane Eyre with a Southern Gothic bent. Poet an
The Writer5 min read
How To Make Your Travel Writing More Inclusive
2020 changed every aspect of how we travel, from our ability to do so to the safety measures we now take. As the world comes to grips with the failings of many of its systems, particularly as they pertain to marginalized communities, especially peopl
The Writer1 min read
Diverse Travelers By The Numbers
The travel market value for Black travelers. Annual trips taken by adults with disabilities. The amount Hispanics spend on travel. Percent of all air travel in the U.S. done by Asian Americans. Black adults interested in taking trips to places connec
The Writer1 min readPsychology
Interview
When I was younger, my parents and I used to go to family therapy together… Ironically, the sessions always seemed counterproductive, and we usually left the therapist’s office feeling more angry and hopeless than when we entered. For many years, I f
The Writer6 min read
A Father’s Touch
IT IS ALWAYS AROUND this time, after my mother has begun crying and my father has finished his first cigarette, that the therapist turns to me and asks how I am doing. My therapist has short, straight, silky, brown hair that ends at the bottom of her
The Writer3 min read
The Blue Mountain Review
An essay titled “Growing Pains of an Adolescent America.” The winners of the “Women in Resilience” poetry contest. An interview with magician Eric Henning, who’s performed at three presidential inaugurations. Short fiction titled “Neighborhood Zombie
The Writer3 min read
The Chanticleer Authors Conference
In pre-pandemic times, The Chanticleer Authors Conference took place at Hotel Bellwether on the waterfront in Bellingham, Washington, close to the Canadian border. The 2021 event takes place virtually via Zoom from April 21 to 25. It’s all live and i
The Writer11 min read
Moving Parts
When it comes to getting published, there are many spinning cogs. Here are some of the resources you’ll need to take your work from inside your brain to in front of the eyes of readers. The following listings are a sampling of what the industry has t
The Writer1 min read
Sources To Follow
A group of international Black travel content creators holding the travel industry accountable on the issue of diversity. blacktravelalliance.com/about A body-positive travel community and guide. fatgirlstraveling.wordpress.com A guide and newsletter
The Writer3 min readInternet & Web
Gigi Will Know
Here’s my problem: my books don’t sell. I’ve authored six nonfiction books and co-authored two, all of which have been published by well-respected publishers and have great reviews. Before COVID-19, I had many well-attended speaking engagements and b
The Writer5 min read
Publishing In The Time Of Covid-19
Anger at friends who refused to wear masks and social distance inspired Colorado writer Johanna Levene to write “An Open Letter to My Lactose Intolerant Friend Regarding My COVID Intolerance,” a witty short piece published in McSweeney’s Internet Ten
The Writer11 min read
Rekindling An Old Flame
We might say the same thing as da Vinci about a work of fiction. You revise a story or a novel a dozen times or more, and still you find something to fix. In fact, the more you look, the more you find. Will it ever be over? No, it seems. Still, you m

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