One of my favorite Leonard Bernstein songs (lyrics from Betty Comden and Adolph Green) is a cheerful, upbeat ditty about the wreckage of broken dreams in New York. In verse after verse, a bright young thing comes to the big city from the cornfields, experiences a measure of success, then works a drudge job while […]… Continue reading What a Waste — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
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Writing Inside in the Daytime — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
By Heather O’Shea When I moved to Florida, one of my goals was to avoid getting a “real” job. I wanted to cobble together a life and an income that moved the act of writing from the fringes of my life to the center. Then I spent about seven months with more than enough time.… Continue reading Writing Inside in the Daytime — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
How Can Writers Confront Privilege? Read (and Write and Teach) About It — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
By LaRue Cook I’m a cisgender, heterosexual white man who was raised in the South, a tick below middle class and near the second notch of the Bible Belt. Don’t worry. There is no but. I just think more people like me ought to own their privilege up front, outright. That’s kinda what my debut […]… Continue reading How Can Writers Confront Privilege? Read (and Write and Teach) About It — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
On Pens and Needles — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
By Mimi Jones Hedwig Whenever I feel the impulse to lose myself in the absorbing process of making something, I choose one of two activities: knitting or writing. Both give me comparable — and abundant — rewards. Yet I have to resist knitting, or I’d do it all the time. And I have to push […]… Continue reading On Pens and Needles — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
Whenever Men Think I’m Smiling — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
Megan Pillow Davis bares her teeth in the newest issue of Brevity, out just yesterday: There are men all around me. There are all men and me. So I stare straight ahead. I drink my coffee. I let him touch me, because it could be worse, it could be worse, it could always be worse […]… Continue reading Whenever Men Think I’m Smiling — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
Textual Healing, Notes from the Mom Whose Pages Keep Changing — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
By Phyllis Brotherton My adult son and I, at this chapter in our lives, have a “texting only” relationship. A few months ago, I completed the Afterword to my book using a series of our recent texts, both quoted and cryptic, with plenty of white space and ellipses. The underlying message of the Afterword: Things […]… Continue reading Textual Healing, Notes from the Mom Whose Pages Keep Changing — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
On Playing Cards and Literary Rejection: Betting on the Come — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
by Kathy Stevenson I come from a family of dreamers, wishers, horoscope readers, and gamblers. Which turns out to be the optimal background for a writer. When Dad went to the track on Saturdays (if he had the day off from one of his three jobs) my five younger sisters and I never knew if […]… Continue reading On Playing Cards and Literary Rejection: Betting on the Come — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
Instagram for Writers — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
Social media is a distraction from our writing. Social media can be a support system for our writing—creating community, building readership, and allowing us to practice our craft. Writer Twitter is definitely a Thing, with terrific advice in #askagent, and editors tweeting calls for submissions and pitches. Writer Facebook includes genre- and demographic-based groups that […]… Continue reading Instagram for Writers — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
Writers Confronting Privilege: Another Examination — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
By Anita Gill Recently Brevity’s Blog published “How Can Writers Confront Privilege? Read (and Write and Teach) About It” by LaRue Cook. In this article, Cook decided to tackle a question many white writers struggle with in this current literary landscape: “Should I be writing at all, or just reading and listening? How do white… Continue reading Writers Confronting Privilege: Another Examination — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
Ten Reasons Why Women Writers Can’t Write 10,000 Words, Written by a Woman Writer — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
By Brianna Bell Last week Jeffrey Goldberg, mansplainer-in-chief at The Atlantic, wrote an article appearing to suggest that women can’t write 10,000 words. Women across the world nodded their heads in unison, “Yes, Mr. Goldberg,” they said. “Finally a white man who understands us.” I can’t write 10,000 words, because I’m a woman, of course. […]… Continue reading Ten Reasons Why Women Writers Can’t Write 10,000 Words, Written by a Woman Writer — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog
WILDsound Writing Festival 