The real answer is probably “the devil” but let’s pretend there’s other options too — Summer is a tricky time for the creative life, or I think so anyway. The world is so alive and so distracting. It’s certainly a complex time for parents (the activities! the logistics! also does anyone know where the damn goggles are), and for any humans who feel sleepy in…

It’s kind of inconvenient. But I swear it works. — In the interest of not burying the lede! » This fall, I hope you’ll join me and Sarah McColl in the dreamy Driftless region of Wisconsin for the first-ever Red Clover Writing Retreat. If you’re feeling stuck in your writing process, stalled on your fiction or memoir project, hungry for…

On frustration and creative clenching. Also, butts. — Hey before we begin: I’m so excited to announce the launch of Writing Co-Lab, an experimental writing school run by a cooperative of teaching writers. My first online class for them starts on January 26th. It’s called Writing for Women on the Verge (do you see my theme?), and it’s…

If you want to write, and you have a busy life, you need tell that To-Do List who’s boss. (It’s you, you’re the boss.) — But how, writers are always asking themselves, each other, me, their Google calendars, can I find time to write? There’s work and family and household and being a citizen and the car needs a new muffler and the cat barfed on the rug and also I’m tired, I’m just so…

What is motherhood but a surveillance state? — Today was the last day of school. This means I filled out my last Covid health form of the school year. I’ve done this every weekday since September, except for the times I forgot and my son had to do it on paper when he got to his fifth-grade classroom…

Writing regularly requires commitment — and community — For the last two months, Creators Hub has invited Medium creators like you to come write with us, silently, on a Zoom together, for one hour each week. We provided optional writing prompts, calm music, and minimal intrusion. (My colleague Harris Sockel and I hosted, working on our own writing…

This week’s writing prompts are about how you take care of yourself — We’ve been sharing weekly #WriteHere prompts for nearly a year, if you can believe that. And now we’re ready to shake things up a little. Starting in April, we’ll switch to a monthly format. Each month, we’ll share a post here on Creators Hub with a whole bunch of writing…

Medium creators’ responses to this week’s writing prompts — Since January, Creators Hub has been hosting weekly writing hours, in which we invite everyone to join us on a Zoom for an hour of quiet music, optional writing prompts, and creative camaraderie. After all, writing can be lonely, so it’s nice to write together in this way. For today’s…

This week’s writing prompts are about your rants, raves, and everything in between — Spring is a tricky time. One day (here on the East Coast of the Western Hemisphere, anyway) it’s sunny and bright and everything’s all crocuses and robins and we think, “Hey! Life is pretty amazing!” And then the next day it’s pouring and wintry and there’s rumors of a new…