by Chris Smith | Jun 4, 2021
The fact that poet Paul Engle, who took over as director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1941 wrote with a bullwhip next to his typewriter speaks volumes about his methods and the philosophy behind the original program. Based at the University of Iowa, the Iowa...
by Chris Smith | May 20, 2021
In 2013, Alice Campion sent the manuscript of a novel she’d just finished called The Painted Sky to Penguin Random House Australia in the hope they might be interested in publishing it. They were. In fact, the publisher was bowled over. In an email back to the author,...
by Chris Smith | Apr 26, 2021
We’re taught from an early age that trying to do such and such is admirable – and indeed, it can be. But in reality, making yourself do anything through willpower alone is a trap. It’s demoralising and rarely gets results. Forcing yourself to write, stay focused...
by Chris Smith | Mar 25, 2021
Writing routines work because they help you get the writing done in a more automatic way. But when your routine becomes an unhelpful rut and you start doing and thinking things that don’t work – you need to shake things up. In her book Mindfulness, which extols the...
by Chris Smith | Mar 1, 2021
You’d never call Cheryl Strayed (pictured) a shirker. Today, her books regularly hit the bestseller lists, her memoir Wild was made into an Oscar-nominated film. She’s successful and prolific by any measure. But for years she was stuck – she didn’t write a thing. She...
