by Chris Smith | Mar 24, 2022
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about writing collaborations and relationships. Partly because I’ve just co-authored a book and partly because I’m still struggling with a chapter in said book about the topic. At one point I used think that in whatever form they...
by Chris Smith | Dec 7, 2021
Writers’ block manifests itself in different ways but the outcome is often the same. The writing slows, you can’t figure out a way forward, writing sessions feel arduous, and procrastination takes hold. How to get unstuck will be personal to you and the...
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...
