WRITE THROUGH THE CRISIS –  DISASTER? PANDEMIC? CRISIS? THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RIGHT WORD by Samantha Shad I had a workshop scheduled at Duke University during the week when the coronavirus turned into covid19 and the world went from interested to panicked.  The college administration sent out an email, and my students wrote me back […]

How can you find the story you are supposed to write? The most important truth to carry with you as you journey forth to find your next story is: it doesn’t matter how you find your next story.  Writing a story that can change your life means allowing material that is bubbling in your non-conscious […]

The basic unit of writing to happiness is the fictional story.   A story is a specific unit.  It has a beginning, middle, and end.  It has a protagonist and an antagonist.  It has a theme, though usually you can wait it out and the theme will sneak up on you.  It has obstacles, helpers, […]

“A guy comes home from college to find his mother sleeping with his uncle, and there’s a ghost running around.  Write it good, it’s Hamlet; write it bad, it’s Gilligan’s Island.”  Lorne Michaels “Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly […]