OneRoom

Our poetry coach, Caroline Goodwin, published a new poem!

Caroline Goodwin Caroline Goodwin is a poet and essayist based in Montara, California. Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, she holds a BA in biology from The Colorado College and an MFA in Creative Writing from t…

"I assume that by reading this blog, you’ve reached some level of recognition or acceptance that you (yes, you) have an art monster. Maybe it’s still a cute tiny thing, like a baby tiger blind to the world. Or maybe it’s just a quiet voice that you only hear when everything else has stilled."

We love this blog post on the monster inside artists, by coach Diana Xin.

Honoring your art monster – Keep Writing I assume that by reading this, you’ve reached some level of recognition or acceptance that you (yes, you) have an art monster. Maybe…

New today on the OneRoom blog, from coach Diana Xin:

Honoring your art monster – Keep Writing I assume that by reading this, you’ve reached some level of recognition or acceptance that you (yes, you) have an art monster. Maybe…

Rejection is hard! Keep submitting.

What Collecting 100 Rejections Taught Me About Creative Failure My official New Year’s resolution, this year, was to drink more water. My unofficial (i.e., secret and therefore unenforceable) New Year’s resolution was to lose some weight before my wedding this …

Our new fiction coach, Courtney Bird, recently shared this with her members. Elizabeth Gilbert is great at talking about creative fear.

Elizabeth Gilbert — Choosing Curiosity Over Fear Her name is synonymous with "Eat Pray Love." But through the disorienting process of her success, Elizabeth Gilbert has also reflected deeply on the gift and challenge of inhabiting a creative life.

Susan Orlean can teach us a lot about writing.

Susan Orlean on archiving her life, nearly quitting books, and not keeping up with her subjects Susan Orlean’s stories reveal what one reviewer called “the grandeur of the miniature.” She pursues her discrete subjects—a devastating library fire, a seemingly immortal dog, Girl Scouts and 10-year-old American boys and “All My Children”—to their surprising limits. In her books, one ...

Take solace: self doubt is totally normal.

When Even the Greatest of Writers Grapples with Self-Doubt Months before his death in 1939, W. B. Yeats found himself at a crisis point. He was writing many poems; at the same time, he was afraid that he had become a kind of fraud, an impostor, lifelessly …

Big fans of the YA crossover!

Women write fantasy for grown-ups, too Why are female authors’ adult fantasy novels so often marketed at teenagers?

One of our favorite reminders!

Pat Barker: To Be a Writer You Must Resist the Urge to Clean Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls is now available. * What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? Keep your bum glued to the chair. It’s extraordinary how, if a piece of writing …

Need some motivation and inspiration? Or just a reason to take a break? Check out our series of resources to keep you writing.

Procrasti-links for Writers: 9 Helpful Publications & Columns Part I in a Series of Favorite Resources to Keep You Writing

We believe in creating a writing community. Coach Erica Wright reminds us why it's so important.

"We can handle the loneliness of our writing room, but what about when we’re done for the day?"

7 Reasons to Find Writing Pals – Keep Writing! In my favorite book on writing, The Triggering Town, Richard Hugo suggests, “When you are writing, glance over your shoulder, and you’ll…

"Most practicing writers only write for 1–4 hours per day, and often in smaller chunks."

Writing? You Need Less Time Than You Think. – Keep Writing! There’s a belief that balancing rest and play with your work is actually good for your writing practice.

Revisiting this new year post about developing a writing practice in the new year.

"Say, more than anything, you’ve always wanted to be a writer. Why? Because you love books, words, stories, poems. Why? Because of the empathy, transcendence, and solace they can bring to the world. Just guessing, here."

From Aspiring to Practicing Writer in 2017 – Keep Writing! “False Hope Syndrome,” some psychologists call it.

The life of a writer isn't only about writing. Walking, communing with other writers, and sleep will all contribute to your work.

Cultivating Creativity In Daily Life – Keep Writing! As the Head Coach at OneRoom, I read a lot about what makes for a strong creative writing practice. I’ve been reading a book called Rest…

There have been a lot of articles lately about the anxiety caused by chasing productivity. We considered how productivity tools may or may not help your writing.

"What is tricky about using productivity tools for creative work is the strangeness of creative action."

Productivity Tools Won’t Destroy Creative Work. Don’t Expect a Miracle, Either. The writing process can seem like endless note-taking for your works in progress.

So much to look forward to reading this year!

66 Books Coming In 2019 That You'll Want To Keep On Your Radar We tried to keep it short. (Presented in no particular order.)

We're revisiting some of our favorite blog posts. This, from coach Erica Wright:

"Eventually I accepted that my attempts at new work might be disappointing for the chance to find something unexpected, something wholly mine."

Fail Farther, Fail Faster – Keep Writing! I stared down at the blank watercolor paper, worried by the lack of lines. What was I expected to create with this swath of nothingness…

"Our creativity, it comes out of our brain, kind of from nothing, so it can seem undervalued, even by ourselves. It was a learning process of figuring out who I am and what are my abilities and what is my worth.”

Who doesn't feel imposter syndrome occasionally?

What's Creative Imposter Syndrome—And How Can You Overcome It? When you work a creative job, imposter syndrome can be especially hard to avoid. We asked established professionals for their tips on overcoming it.

New ways to look at old craft ideas!

Coach Erica Wright shared this with her group and we love it.

Some attempts at (re)definition « pleiadesmag Some attempts at (re)definition I have been thinking for a while about how our attempts to define craft terms influence our students’ (and our own) aesthetics, and I have wanted to try other definitions. How to define “tone,” for example, seemed especially difficult. Here are some alternate de...

From Mary Oliver. This year, give your creative work power and time.

“I have wrestled with the angel and I am stained with light and I have no shame... My responsibility is not to the ordinary.” - 🎤 drop courtesy of mary oliver

Resolving to submit more in 2019? Best to prepare for dealing with rejection, too, so you can keep going when it happens.

"...much like morning breath, indigestion, and death, rejection is simply an inevitable nuance of life."

Creative Ways To Frame Your Rejection - Submittable Does rejection bum you out? Guest author Zakiya Kassam offers ten alternative (and more fun!) ways to think about getting turned down.

More reading always!

How To Read More In 2019 Want to fit more books into your life? We asked these writers about how they get their reading done, and they had some pretty fantastic tips.

Even more great publishing news for 2019: new books from Ocean Vuong, Helen Oyeyemi, and, and, and...

50 Books You'll Want To Read In 2019 At least there'll be good stuff to read

CANCELING ALL 2019 PLANS. Too much reading to do.

New books from Yiyun Li, Valeria Luiselli, Marlon James, T Kira Madden, Ocean Vuong, and, and, and.

61 Books We're Looking Forward To Reading In 2019 New year, new books, new to-read piles.

One of our members shared this with his group, and we're passing it on. Always be submitting.

Where to Submit: December, January, and February 2018-19 Where to Submit: December, January, and February 2018-19 was last modified: December 20th, 2018 by

"To me, literature is a calling, even a kind of salvation. It connects me with an enterprise that is over 2,000 years old. What do we have from the past? Art and thought. That's what lasts."

–Susan Sontag, who died on this day in 2004

Resolving to seek publication for your book in 2019? Revisit our series on finding a literary agent.

Finding an Agent for Your Novel, Part I – Keep Writing! You’ve Drafted Your Book to the Point of Submission. Now What?

Here are the Biggest Fiction Bestsellers of the Last 100 Years As the year draws to a close, some of us like to look forward, and some of us backward—and some way backward. Last month, while working on the not-at-all-controversial Books That Defined the Decade…

"I was surprised by how quickly a persistent theme emerged — the haves versus the have-nots. So much of crime is about power, and therefore, in my mind, mysteries are inherently political."

Coach Erica Wright on writing mysteries. An excellent interview with her.

Order Out of Chaos - Los Angeles Review of Books Daniela Petrova interviews Erica Wright about her new novel, “The Blue Kingfisher.”

So many good podcasts on this list!

14 Literary Podcasts That Aren’t Hosted by Three White Guys Make your commute more literary with our roundup of podcasts that recognize and celebrate diversity

Here's one way to trick yourself out of tinkering and finish a manuscript draft...

This is a Truly Bizarre Way to Write a Novel I’m a tinkerer by temperament. My most frequent nerdy joke with my writing students is that if you sat me down at a computer every day for a year when I was 22 and let me have at it, a year later I…

A great story writer on why we write.

Joy Williams on Why Writers Write “A writer loves the dark, loves it, but is always fumbling around in the light.”

How is it that so many great books came out this year?

Lit Hub’s Favorite Books of 2018 Year-end lists, which seem to come out closer and closer to Halloween every year, can feel like a burden to reader and compiler alike: for the former, more books to feel guilty about not having rea…

We're so excited about this new memoir!

Terrors | Kiese Laymon | Granta Magazine An excerpt from Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon

Immense respect for this editor's work. Thanks, Brigid Hughes!

Her Private Space: On Brigid Hughes, Editor When Brigid Hughes began her career as a 22-year-old intern at the Paris Review, she was told by George Plimpton that there were three things she’d need to learn in order to succeed at the job: how…