I used to hate that New Age expression: Do what you love and the money will follow. Yeah, right, I’d mutter. At the time I was working as a features writer at the largest newspaper in Alaska, and while I loved many things about my job, I hated sitting in a cubicle for most of… Read More Write what you love, the money will follow
And this has nothing to do with literary agents or books yet perhaps it does: A view of the mountains with a dusting of snow, taken during my hike/run a few days ago. This is why I live in Alaska. News: This just in on Chuck Sambuchino’s Twitter feed (and if you’re a writer and don’t follow Sambuchino, shame on… Read More Need an agent?
“Six Questions For …” is my latest gotta-read. I’m a bit obsessed, actually. I don’t remember how I first came across Jim Harrington’s blog. Probably it was a link from a link from a link. Yet it immediately captivated me, so much so that I bookmarked it and found myself returning, again and again, curious… Read More Ten Questions For … Jim Harrington
I woke this morning with a poem on my lips. Probably, this was unavoidable since I wrote all night and crashed on the living room couch, exhausted and weepy, my head filled with words as the sun slowly filled the room. I woke to Kathleen Jamie’s “The Tay Moses,” not the poem so much as the cadence of… Read More A psychic poetry connection
I recently had a number of writing successes. But they didn’t come easily. I struggled the whole time, and not just over the writing, either. I struggled with my fears and insecurities. I came face-to-face with my writing demons You know what I’m talking about: Those voices inside your head that taunt you’re not good enough or talented enough… Read More Fighting my writing demons, and winning (at least for now)
This is about all I’ve seen for the past couple of days: I’m pushing like crazy to get Waiting for My Daughter’s Ghost, my second novel, to my agent by next week and have one last chapter to finish. This last chapter is proving most difficult. Not only do I have to wrap everything up and resolve plot lines but I need to leave readers feeling full and satisfied,… Read More Writing like crazy, and a visit from a fictional ghost
Autumn comes in fast up here in Alaska. One day it’s summer. The next the air cools and the wind becomes crisp and when you look up, you notice, with wonder and dread, that the leaves are already turning. I love autumn for all of its beauty and complexity, yes, but also for the darkness, which creeps in slyly, wrapping around the sky… Read More Alaska autumn, or what I learned from a writing binge
I’ve been happily publishing away in both print and online journals, literary magazines and blogs, and I never once stopped to consider: Is someone plagiarizing my work? Then I came across Diana Peterfreund’s insightful blog post, An Epidemic of Plagiarism in the Indie World. It startled me. Peterfreund summarizes the NPR and Fast Company… Read More Are you being plagiarized?
Here in Anchorage we live at the end of a dead-end street that borders park land, and our yard is filled with birch and spruce trees. We don’t mow or maintain it, we allow it to spread in wild splendor. I love the way plants grow with abandon and spread without apology. Probably there is a lesson in… Read More My wild Alaska lawn, and what’s so great about a bad review?
What a great way to start a Monday: Issue 3 of Cactus Heart Press released, with creative nonfiction from yours truly plus an awesome story from Jane Liddle and an array of incredible poems, including (my favorite) two by Diana Woodcock. Check it out here. I also have a semi-erotic creative nonfiction piece in The Foliate Oak Literary Magazine’s December issue.… Read More New work up (in two mags)
Cinthia Ritchie 