During my three years in the MFA program, one sentence was repeated often: Writers read. In fact, several of my classes had required fiction books that we had to read and discuss in discussion posts. I assumed writers needed to read to get inspired by fellow writers, but there was more to it than that. Stephen King, in his book about writing, On Writing, put it simply and succinctly: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a

How Positivity Changed My Life I wasn't always a positive person. I was raised by parents who saw the life they had built taken away by a communist government. From then on, negativity became the lens through which they viewed the world. Eventually I decided I didn't want to live that way. I surrounded myself with optimistic people and watched how they found light in difficult moments. Their outlook inspired me and slowly changed my own. Don't get me wrong, I still hear the n

Writing a first draft can feel intimidating - not because the story isn’t there, but because the task ahead seems enormous. It is important to start by being aware- a smooth first draft isn’t perfect or effortless - it’s steady, intentional, and connected to your creative energy. Its goal is simple: to move forward and let the story exist. Staring at a blank page or thinking of the 300-plus pages you need to write can quickly turn excitement into stress. Here are five ways to

Rejection is scary. It has a quiet way of arriving - no explanation, just a short email. Silence replaces where enthusiasm once lived. For a long time, I treated rejection as something painful to get over. Shake it off. Move on. But eventually, I realized I was skipping the most useful part - the part where rejection teaches you something success rarely does. Here are five things rejection has taught me that success never could: 1. Rejection Is Information, Not Judgment Succe