"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.

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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.

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I know it’s been a while. Sometimes it feels like I’m circling inside an endless loop of rejection, as if the same door keeps swinging shut no matter how many times I gather the courage to knock. Each “no” folds into the next, tightening around me until hope feels fragile, almost foolish. I tell myself not to care so much, not to expect anything. And yet, the moment I hit submit, something inside me rises. It always does. And then it falls.

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Health is a subject that connects all of us. Writers use such scenes to create drama, build emotional investment in a story, and to develop tension. Neurosurgery, head injuries, and chronic diseases, among others, affect a character's personality and create an opportunity for change. However, it's important to get the details right because readers notice mistakes and unchecked errors perpetuate false information, skewing facts.

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The relentless click-click-click of a metronome may be helpful for practicing finger exercises, but it’s deathly dull for an audience. Classical composers use Italian terms to signal changes in the desired pace of their music, such as lento (slow), allegro (lively), and presto (very fast). My favorite of these is rubato, literally “robbed” time, meaning the performer is free to “rob” a moment from one note and give it to the next.

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We often speak of a writer’s voice, that distinct and resonant quality that separates one narrative from another on a crowded shelf. We talk of plot, of structure, of the muscularity of good prose. These are the tools of our trade, the timber and nails of the houses we build for our stories.

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Today, in 2026, when someone hears my accent and asks where I’m from, I hesitate. I lower my eyes, give a small smile, and say, “I was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia.” I hear the words and feel a pinch of embarrassment. I don’t always want to explain the Russia I knew—my Russia—because it feels so different from the Russia people picture today.  

But things were very different in 1993. That was the year I moved, by a rather unlikely twist of fate, from St. Petersburg to a small college town with a surprising name: Moscow… Moscow, Idaho.

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What makes your writing unique? When readers come across your books, what do they see that makes them know it’s yours?

Establishing your position within the writing community can feel impossible, especially if you are just beginning your career. Each writer you come across pulls you in different directions, which can make it challenging to find your creative identity. The tendency to adopt the stylistic elements of a recently read work is a natural part of writing, one that contributes to your emerging voice.

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As a judge for the popular storytelling platform NYC Midnight, I read a lot of flash fiction and microfiction submissions. For the unfamiliar, flash fiction is loosely defined as a short story of up to 1,000 words. Microfiction is a subset of flash fiction, with stories weighing in at 100 words or less. 

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When I first began freelancing, it could get lonely. It was not like other jobs where you have coworkers with whom to bounce ideas off or solve problems, but writers need watering holes, too. Sometimes there is no one else that understands what you’re going through better than those who have been through it as well

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I groaned as my high school English teacher told the class that our senior research papers needed to include an outline. I loved writing; I hated outlines. Since I ended up writing never looked anything like the outline I created at the beginning of the assignment, I often wrote the paper first and then created the framework page she required.

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Driving down I-75 in Atlanta, a billboard blared: “Your Wife Is Hot!  And she’s getting hotter!”  In smaller print, the sign advertised an air conditioning company. I found the innuendo worth pondering.  The writerly side of me mulled over creating a flash fiction on the double-entendre of “hotness.” I’d begin by saying Leroy’s wife was leaving him because after all she was much HOTTER than poor Leroy. When you read on, you’d find, the Mrs. was leaving her conjugal nest, not for another fella, but for her mom’s house where the AC worked. This is how a nugget of an idea mushrooms into a vignette! Surprise twists make stories interesting. 

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In 2021, I set out to write a book that had slowly been forming in my head for years. I work in creating affordable housing, and I’d always wanted a book I could leave behind with community groups, policymakers, and the like. Developing affordable housing is complicated and full of obscure jargon, but it’s all learnable. I wanted to write a book that would demystify what affordable housing is, how it works, what we’ve tried, and what is necessary to fix this housing crisis. 

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When I first buckled down to seriously pursue my writing journey in my mid-20s, I had no intention of writing short stories. I wanted to pen the next great fantasy series, something akin to George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire or Joe Abercrombie's The First Law Trilogy. What I discovered is that such series are tremendously difficult to create, especially as a newbie. Nevertheless, I persevered, and my writing improved, albeit at a slow rate.

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Oft-quoted Virginia Woolf famously expressed her opinion that “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” Most writers remember the section of her quotation regarding the needed room—a place for creation, a sanctuary for expression, an atelier for sundry artistic pursuits. I agree. (I also concur with the part about having an income.)

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I write memoirs and sometimes my recollections are a bit hazy. I find that props help provide clarity. The publishing industry is rife with books and online writing classes that offer prompts to prime the creative juices. While writing prompts are useful exercises that may lead to deeper reflection, I love writing props to stimulate memories and jump-start the narrative. 

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I participated in a reading at a bookstore to promote a writing group’s latest anthology of fiction. My niche remains the inspirational and humorous non-fiction narrative although I’ve penned novels.

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Have you ever done a ton of research for an article? Have you ever wished you could do more with that research? Research is time-consuming, and if you’re like me, you find other interesting topics to check out that lead down those dreaded rabbit holes. If you’re wise, you will use that research to the fullest and turn out more than one article, story, or listicle to get the most money for your work. Don’t be afraid to recycle and repurpose to fit the needs of multiple publications.

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Our purpose in writing nonfiction with a historical element is to inform and to entertain our target audience. That delicate balance is the challenge of creative nonfiction. How do we ensure that when we share colorful stories from the past we still apply the highest standards of accuracy available to us? This was the balance I aimed for after I had researched and photographed forty locations for my book ‘Paranormal Gloucestershire.’

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