the writing life
-
Write Like A Mother
In a poignant and funny essay, Vela Magazine’s Sarah Menkedick discusses being a writer while being a mother: The house looks as though someone has flipped it upside down and shaken it, we’re surviving off cans of refried beans, the poor…
-
Actively Seeking Words
How do you spot a successful writer? Over at Lit Hub, Shelley A. Leedahl explains how going pro can look a lot like going broke: After all, I do have a career. It just doesn’t pay.
-
Quit Your Day Job
The writing life ain’t cheap. Longtime Rumpus friend and contributor Antonia Crane has declared this the “Summer of Love: Stop Stripping, Start Writing” and she can’t make it happen without us. Help her raise the money to attend Bread Loaf and Byrdcliffe Art Colony this…
-
Murder by Numbers
Over at the Ploughshares blog, Rebecca Makkai puts together a series of graphs depicting ironically depressing stats about books and writers.
-
The Write Life
At The Billfold, Christine Sneed gets real about the long, hard path to finding success writing books—even after being published—and why she wouldn’t have chosen a different career path regardless: I can’t imagine not being a writer. Maybe this seems…
-
Spotlight: “If You Want to Write” by Summer Pierre
Cartoonist and illustrator Summer Pierre reflects on the fantasy and reality of the writer’s life.
-
F*** the Myth of Motivation
The motivation crisis is different for each place on the path, but it is as toxic as it is ubiquitous.
-
The Incompletist
I was excited to see the New York Times’s announcement that a regular column by the writer Geoff Dyer called “Reading Life” would be appearing in their weekend Book Review. I was even more intrigued and, somehow, encouraged, when eventually…
-
Keeping the Mud Alive
While I’d never admit it, I’ve always harbored a shame about wanting to write. Even fictional characters who aspired to the same goal made me squirm with unease. Every Thursday night, as we watched the television series The Waltons, I…
-
To MFA or not to MFA? That Isn’t the Question.
Recently, it has become fashionable to debate the pros and cons of pursuing a MFA. However, for the Millions, Hannah Gersen suggests that this debate has steered the conversation away from a more difficult question: how do we support writers who…
-
Now, Writing is for Extroverts Too
When my wife proposed writing a novel together last year, I was initially resistant but not for the most obvious reasons. I wasn’t worried about our ability to work together. I wasn’t even worried about whether we could actually produce…
-
Guildtalk #1: The Rumpus Interview with Eddie Joyce
Guildtalk, brought to you by The Rumpus and the Authors Guild, brings attention to exciting new voices in American literature. The first installment features Richard Russo and Eddie Joyce.