And I want to read your writing — UPDATE 10/13/23 SEE BELOW! You know those late night conversations with friends when you end up telling your best stories? Those are the ones I want. I want to collect your beautiful gems in the little eggplant-colored suede pouch that I got from Museum Village when I was 12. I…

Humans are pushing back against the algorithms — It’s a great pleasure to inform you that The Memoirist has been invited to join the Medium Boost Nomination Pilot. This means that now your stories in our beloved publications are capable of receiving the coveted Medium Boost. …

And how to change it. — I have an obsession with personality psychology. Personality and writing go hand-in-hand. Like Macaroni and Cheese. For a writer, your personality is what makes your writing unique. It’s also what holds you back sometimes. But we can overcome that. You’re not stuck. First, you need to know the type you…

It’s all about what you can drop — When I was a child, I understood grief because I had an elephant cookie jar on my shelf that was missing a lid. As a 6-year-old, I’d watched my mother drop the lid as she’d packed her belongings to leave. The lid had slipped from her fingers and smashed into…

How does your writing compare with ChatGPT? — Can we learn to improve before AI does? I gave the new writing AI, ChatGPT, a try today — asking it to write a rom-com for me — and it transported me back to a story I edited with a client years ago. AI has the same beginner writer difficulties…

Editors are more likely to buy timely pieces, and any piece can be made timely. — Sitting in the theatre, I wondered if I’d be spending the next 5-hours with two bored teenagers, complaining or sulking while I sat regretting my life choices. Was it a bad move taking my kids to a 5-hour French opera on the Spanish Inquisition? Thankfully, the director David McVicar had…

Are you a generic human? — As much as I resist change, I have to admit there’s no point paying a guy to light the street lamps when electricity can do the job in seconds. I’ve been thinking about those old lamplighters and all the times the workplace has transformed with technological change (and trying not…

The real reason you’re feeling unmotivated and unconfident — Lori Gottlieb stirred up more than a little controversy when she subtitled her book “The Case for Settling for Mr Good Enough.” Relationships are one thing, but settling in your writing can stir controversy, too. Inner controversy mostly. (If you’ve ever found yourself searching for the elusive ‘Perfection in your…

Avoid the content mills and cold emailing — You can spend days of your life scrolling content mills and taking $5 jobs (eek) or… Try your hand at responding to writing jobs and editor’s calls for stories. Pitching editors is an excellent skill to learn, but cold pitching is hard. …

A little anecdote can go a long way — If your non-fiction writing isn’t engaging your audience like you want it to, perhaps it’s time to become a storyteller. As a magazine writer, my word count is often too restrictive to use anecdotes. If I do, they have to be very concise. …

Who is the person on your page? — My 13-year-old daughter is a huge reader. Today she approached me with a Young Adult book, held open on the second page. “Look at how terrible these characters are,” she said. I read the passage she was pointing to and we both had a good laugh. From an obvious grammatical…

Jimmy Harney on pitching editors and writing for Modern Love — That particular one actually came to me in the shower one night, and I wrote it very quickly. I submitted it that same night, not thinking it would even get read. — Jimmy Harney The title, In Defense of My Emu Tattoo, in Modern Love drew me in. What could…

Figuring out who and what to pitch is half the battle. — Are you wondering how to pitch an article idea to a media publication as a freelance writer? If the answer is yes, this article will help you identify the writing skills you need to get an editor’s attention. A single “as seen in” media byline can give you or your…

The much-loved creator monetization platform has increased its fees. Here’s where you can shift to! — Today, Gumroad is more popular than ever among digital creators and solopreneurs. It hosts more than 78k creators who earned a whopping $142 million in 2020 alone. Gumroad — Empowering Creators to Make Money Online Founded in 2011, Gumroad is an eCommerce platform that lets you sell anything — from ebooks to video-based courses. You’ll find writers, comedians…

Are newsletter subscriptions a viable income stream? — For 42 weeks I’ve run a subscription option on my Substack newsletter. Last week, I decided to pull the plug, refund my subscribers, and cancel the paid subscription option. As part of my 70/20/10 rule — the 20% being testing out new income streams — I tested out Substack paid…

No, it’s not just for listicle writers and bloggers — When I first discovered Medium, I had no idea I’d stumbled on to a platform with as wide a range of writing as you’ll find anywhere on the internet. Medium isn’t just a platform for bloggers or listicle writers. It’s for teachers, poets, fiction writers, coaches, business people, personal essayists…

Dating, your nasty ex, friendship, or parenting? Tell your story and avoid the trolls. — There’s a lot of space in the writing world for stories about relationships. Perhaps you’ve got a personal story about your first marriage; a piece about how to date online better; or maybe a parenting article you’d love to write? Relationships — including parenting, love, dating, and friendship — have…

You need to learn what’s right to see where you’re going wrong. — “No,” he stated bluntly, staring at my portrait drawing. “It’s not right.” I looked at it, trying to see what he was seeing. What was he talking about? It was the best portrait I’d ever done. I’d had two lessons in his masterclass and already I was seeing a huge…

Are they a waste of time for writers? Here’s my verdict — Many of us complete novels this time of year because of NaNoWriMo — the national novel writing month. I managed to finish my first romance novel during October and November. But what’s the next step? Find a publisher? Hire an editor? Use your writing peers for critique? Novel in hand…