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Writer’s Block: Perfectionism
Ironically, the best student in class is all too often the one who suffers from writer’s block. She is often the student who arrives prepared and on time, who takes notes and asks insightful questions. When this student misses a writing deadline, the behavior seems completely contradictory, and yet when I stop to ask, this…
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Julia Alvarez and the Role of Story
In a recent essay in Parabola (37;4 Winter 2012-13) titled “The Older Writer in the Underworld,” Julia Alvarez reflects on the importance of story not to the listener but to the story-teller, and how, at different points in her life, she has identified with different characters. “As a younger writer, the story I repeated over and over…
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Best Advice
Unbridled Books asked its authors: “What’s the best piece of writing advice you have ever given or received?” The best advice I ever received about writing bridged the great divide between talk and walk. It came from a wonderful writer and teacher, Maxine Clair. Author of October Suite and Rattlebone, Clair’s work has that same quality…