Posts Tagged writing advice

8 Simple Salami Tactics to Exercise the Routine that Makes the Muse Chase YOU After a Long Layoff

by Ron Hayes (note: YIKES! Forgive that crazy title this month, will you?) As a high school history teacher, I’m continually surprised at how frequently the seasonality of my work sneaks up on me. I mean, by its very nature, my regular job is seasonal work: three seasons on, one off. With the dawning of […]

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When The Muse Is Elusive

by Ron Hayes What does research have to do with poetry and why in the world would a poet ever need to do research? Ever been asked this question? Ever asked it yourself? When the term “research” crops up in a conversation amongst you and your poet friends, do they look at you funny and […]

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The Bard Was Right. To Thine Own Self…

by Ron Hayes Weird year so far. As a poet, I’m deeply affected by the things that go on around me. As a teacher, there always seems to be a lot going on. Typically, these goings-on find their way into the poems I put on the page, but this year has been unusually distracting. With […]

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Every Line A Break, Every Break A Transition

by Ron Hayes In poetry, transitioning from idea to idea in a poem (or scene to scene, or between characters’ points of view, or what have you) seems a lot less complicated than in other genres of writing. You’d think it’s as simple as beginning a new stanza: end the line, hit the Return key […]

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2016: A Crossroads Year

by Ron Hayes In the Memeland known as Facebook, there’s a certain meme that has struck me kinda hard over the past few days. It’s the one that frames the new year as a metaphor for a 365-page book for each of us to write. I think the reason it resonates so strongly is because it immediately generates in me a near-overwhelming […]

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Are You Ready For This? Six Questions To Ask Before Receiving Feedback On Your W.I.P.

By Jennie Jarvis So you just finished your newest short story, novel manuscript or screenplay, and you are stoked! You know it’s one of the best things you’ve ever written. This is the thing that’s going to get you noticed by agents or publishers. It’s the thing that’s going to rake in piles of money […]

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Workshopping 101

by Ron Hayes Full disclosure: I’m a snob. A HUGE snob. When it comes to writing (and poetry in particular), I chafe quickly and easily when bad verse is foisted onto an unsuspecting reader—especially when that reader is me. The proliferation across the Internet of exploitive sites that prey on the earnest honesty of new […]

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Support Them As You Help Them Grow: Giving Feedback

by Jennie Jarvis This month at 5writers.com, we are going to be talking about one of the most important things we can do for our writing community – giving feedback. Let’s face it. If we were stuck in our own minds and never got any feedback from the outside world, our writing would never grow […]

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Writing is Pre-Writing

By Jennie Jarvis Growing up, I always heard the well-known expression “Writing is Rewriting.” But once I started my formal training as a screenwriter, I heard something much different – “Writing is Prewriting.” What is Prewriting, you may ask? Prewriting is all the prep work you do before you sit down to actually write out […]

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Adapting Writing Boundaries to the Fur Children

By Jennie Jarvis When I lived in Los Angeles, I had the best writing companion. Each afternoon, I would turn to my sweet dog Arnold and say “It’s time to go to work!” He wound bound up the stairs, leading me to the top floor office where I would install myself behind my writing desk […]

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