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Join thousands of successful writers when you subscribe to The Writer magazine. Each month The Writer is full of features you can use to improve your writing, including before-and-after examples of improved writing, more literary markets than ever before, practical solutions for writing problems, selected literary magazine profiles, tips from famous authors and hands-on advice.
What makes you squirm as a writer or editor?
By Alicia AnsteadTo survive as creative people, we take risks. We stay up late. We teeter between worlds. Nearly every writer in this issue refers to the persistence you must have to be a writer. You have to believe, have to have gumption and passion. Squirming is part of survival.
Features
On the train
By Alicia AnsteadWhy Christina Baker Kline chose fiction over nonfiction for a historical narrative
It’s a party
By Melissa HartTurn your ho-hum book launch into an unforgettable bash.
Ghostly prose
By Megan KaplonViolet Kupersmith taps into the past with a debut short-story collection.
The crucible of hours
By Julie KrugAnthony Doerr harnesses language and lyricism in his new book.
Departments
A kicker
By Dan StockmanHow tae kwon do helped one writer unleash his mind.
Sub-cursive
By Brandi-Ann UyemuraWhy handwriting is good for the body and soul.
Control the future
By Mark VorenkampAvoid the curse of sci-fi obsolescence.
Taking the long road
By JoBeth McDanielThe Berkeley Narrative Journalism Conference champions the long form.
Of all worlds
By By Melissa HartAsimov’s Science Fiction pushes the boundaries of tradition.
Make a statement
By Hillary CasavantWin over the committee with an effective personal essay.
1991: Recreating reality
By Hillary CasavantUrsula K. Le Guin unpacks the age-old phrase “write what you know.”
Also in Every Issue
From the Editor
Take Note
Roxane Gay, suspense writing tips, feedback advice, character acting, book holders and more
Markets
Classified advertising
How I Write
Caryl Pagel: “A poem almost always begins in music, a bit of some obscure or interesting rhythm wedged in language combined with limits.”