When exactly do you get to say you’re doing what you’re doing because you love doing it? When you retire? On the weekend? I would say, right now.

Love is a movement toward something, which is why it’s the very best frame of mind from which to make any choice.

I’m convinced my mind is often a story in need of just a little editing.

Writing is an experience the same as visiting the Grand Canyon or going to a ball game are experiences

You have the right to make mistakes, to misunderstand, to mischaracterize.

Storytelling teaches us that our life is what we notice about all that we do and occurs around us.

How many times had I convinced myself I knew that something big and bright and life-changing was imminent?

I’m more than a being that sees and hears and tastes. I’m also one who thinks and feels and dreams.

You won’t feel your worth as a person and an artist until you give yourself that trophy.

All your craft is useless unless you believe your life experiences are valuable.

Susan Wiggs is the author of more than fifty novels, including the beloved Lakeshore Chronicles series and the recent New York Times bestsellers The Lost and Found Bookshop, The Oysterville Sewing Circle, and Family Tree. Her books celebrate the power of love, the timeless bonds of family and the fascinating nuances of human nature.

Manil Suri is the internationally acclaimed author of The Death of Vishnu and other books. His work has been translated into twenty-seven languages and received several honors, including winning the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize, and being longlisted for the Booker Prize. He is a distinguished professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and lives with his husband in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Melinda Leigh is the #1 Amazon Charts and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Echo Road, the She Can series, the Midnight series, the Scarlet Falls series, the Morgan Dane series, the Bree Taggert series, the Olivia Cruz series, and numerous short stories, as well as the Rogue series novellas and the Widow’s Island series novellas

Judy Batalion is a New York Times bestselling author of award-winning nonfiction and fiction. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Vogue, among others. Judy has a BA in the History of Science from Harvard, a PhD from the University of London, and has worked as a museum curator and university lecturer. She lives in New York City with her husband and three children.

Sarvat Hasin is a novelist and dramaturg from Pakistan. She has a masters in creative writing from the University of Oxford. Her first novel, This Wide Night, was published by Penguin Random House India and longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Her second book, You Can’t Go Home Again, was published in 2018 and featured in Vogue India's and The Hindu's best of the year lists. Her third novel, The Giant Dark, was a runaway critical success, won the Mo Siewcharran Prize, and was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Encore Award. Strange Girls is her US debut. She lives in London.

Jennifer Murphy holds an MFA in painting from the University of Denver and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington. She is the recipient of the 2013 Loren D. Milliman Scholarship for creative writing and was a contributor at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference from 2008 through 2012. In 2015, her acclaimed debut novel, I Love You More (Doubleday, 2014), won the prestigious Nancy Pearl Fiction Award. Her love of art led her to start Citi Arts, a public art and urban planning company that has created public art master plans for airports, transit facilities, streetscapes, and cities nationwide. She hails from a small beachfront town in Michigan and has lived in Denver, Charlotte, Seattle, and Charleston.

Travis Baldree is a full-time audiobook narrator who has lent his voice to hundreds of stories. Before that, he spent decades designing and building video games like Torchlight, Rebel Galaxy, and Fate. Apparently, he now also writes #1 New York Times bestselling books. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Tara Moss is an internationally bestselling author, human rights activist, documentary and podcast host, and model. Her crime novels have been published in nineteen countries and thirteen languages, and her memoir, The Fictional Woman, was a #1 international bestseller.

Stephen Greenblatt is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He has written extensively on English Renaissance literature and acts as general editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and The Norton Shakespeare. He is the author of fifteen books, including The Swerve, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, and Will in the World, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Dark Renaissance is his latest.

Sue William Silverman is an award-winning author known for her fearless explorations of trauma, identity, and personal transformation. Her latest book, “Selected Misdemeanors: Essays at the Mercy of the Reader,” showcases her signature blend of lyricism, insight, and unflinching honesty.

A third-year political science student sits across from me; her brows furrowed in apprehension. She has a B+ average and a full draft that doesn’t address the essay task. The student was assigned a reading response on two articles about election reform but has written an argument about how elections should be reformed. When I gently point out that she needs to focus her writing on the articles, the student deflates, sighing deeply. She sees instantly that her essay has gone off track.

As host for New Books in Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network, I’ve interviewed over 275 authors and have over 20 interviews scheduled for this year. Every month, dozens of pitches from publishers, publicists, and authors show up in my inbox.

I had poured something tender into that piece. It wasn’t just fiction—it was stitched with memory. My childhood home. My mother’s silence. The way grief lingers in kitchens long after the coffee cools. When the rejection came, it felt personal. I told myself it wasn’t good enough because maybe I wasn’t good enough.

I used to believe myself incapable of writing poetry. I didn’t think the themes I was interested in exploring were worthy of being made into poems, let alone ones someone would want to read.

Few of us make it through a creative writing education without being told to “kill your darlings”—to excise even the cleverest turn of phrase or most exquisitely crafted sentence if it doesn’t serve the overall piece. In my career as a writer, I’ve grown accustomed to making such cuts. Sometimes it even feels gratifying: It lets me believe that I am honing my work toward some perfectly sculpted, final version. I wouldn’t choose “killing” to describe the experience—but maybe I’m not the one to ask. I’m not the one being cut. For that, I would have to ask my mom.

I recently had a request to review a book. This book was already published in eBook form. I was not paid to write this review, and I received no other compensation, which was fine. This was a new, young writer, and I wanted to encourage him. Keep in mind, I have written a lot of book reviews. I am normally asked to write what the book is about, not necessarily give my opinions on the content. That is what I did with this particular book.

You may have heard of “cycle syncing,” which involves making lifestyle adjustments based on where a woman is in her menstrual cycle. But recently I’ve embraced what I think of as “season syncing,” or being aware of a season’s benefits and working with them (instead of resisting elements) in order to thrive creatively.

I went for a walk-and-talk the other day around Seattle’s Green Lake with an author friend whose debut memoir comes out this fall. After the rain teased on and off that morning, the clouds opened, and a bit of sun broke through. The air felt mild and fresh, a brief respite mirroring how I hoped to feel inside, during and after our chat.

"All of us possess a reading vocabulary as big as a lake but draw from a writing vocabulary as small as a pond."

Roy Peter Clark wrote that in Writing Tools, and it names something most writers feel but rarely examine. The words are there; accumulated through years of reading, conversation, and education. They simply don't come to hand when a sentence needs them. And so, we reach for what's close rather than what's right, and the sentence works, but it doesn't sing.

Years ago, I took a class on “Authentic Happiness” taught by a NC State professor who offered these continuing education classes at UNC’s Friday Center.  Often, I signed up for classes related to writing. Although this one wasn’t, I reflect on it when I sit down to compose a fictional story, personal essay, or even an article.

Tom Rob Smith, Jamie Ford, Nicola Griffith, Jussi Adler-Olsen, and Stella Cameron on why stories matter.

Ingrid Ricks, Theo Pauline Nestor, Katie Hafner, and Gregory Martin discuss the challenges of writing memoir.

How writing saved the live of Andres Dubus III, Gary Zukav, and Deb Caletti.

Lessons learned from the writing life, featuring Cheryl Strayed, Elizabeth George, Thirty Umrigar, Deb Caletti, and more . . .

Advice and inspiration from Wally Lamb, Clive Clussler, Lee Child, Stephanie Kallos, and more.

Inspiring advice from Sir Ken Robinson, Yann Martel, Gary Zukav, Andre Dubus III, and more.