By Nava Atlas | On January 7, 2017 | Updated December 27, 2019 | Comments (1)
Writer’s block is a subject that writers try to avoid thinking about, let alone experiencing. Conventional wisdom on what to do when one hits that proverbial wall is about as much fun as the malady.
For example, “try thinking of writing as a job,” or “set deadlines and keep them” are two common ideas for unblocking. The first one is about as inspiring as doing laundry (especially for writers who already have a job); and if you could set and keep deadlines, then you wouldn’t be blocked in the first place, would you?
Learning how to deal with writer’s block is a critical component of the writer’s toolbox, though, so here’s a brief survey of what the women whose shoulders we stand on have had to say on the subject of writer’s block. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On January 1, 2017 | Updated May 8, 2020 | Comments (2)
Women writers and money — not always a comfortable combination. Writing isn’t always (or isn’t often) a vocation with which one can make a good living, though it is possible, even without a runaway bestseller.
“How quickly the minutes fly when you are writing to please your heart. I pity those who write for money or for fame. Money is debasing, and fame transitory and exacting. But for your own heart … Oh, what a difference!” ( Anaïs Nin, The Early Diaries of Anaïs Nin, October, 1921)
Ah, youth! To be unconcerned with the intersection of art and commerce, to create only to please your own heart! How lovely, how idealistic—but ultimately, if you want to shape any semblance of a career doing what you love, how unrealistic. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On December 11, 2016 | Updated May 14, 2022 | Comments (0)
George Sand (Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin; 1804-1876) the French novelist, memoirist, and essayist, was noted as much for her adventurous life and loves. Her writing life took her through great ups and downs, something familiar to those of us endeavor to live by the pen.
Her literary output was almost super-human, and encompassed more than seventy novels, countless essays and works of journalism, several plays, and a multi-volume autobiography. It’s hard to think of another author, past or present, who comes close to being as prolific, and she managed to live a life filled with love, family life, and not a little scandal.
Here is a selection of quotes by George Sand on the joys and agonies of the writing life, many from her most loyal compatriot and correspondent, Gustave Flaubert. Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On November 6, 2016 | Updated October 2, 2022 | Comments (0)
Willa Cather (1873-1947) was the consummate craftswoman of the written word. Her novels are known for their stark beauty and spare language, reflect her philosophy that writing is a craft to be honed and polished.
Her considerable wisdom has been fully preserved, especially in the numerous interviews she granted despite her professed disdain for the press and with fame in general.
Who better than Willa Cather to offer advice on the art of writing fiction? Here’s an essay from 1920, with the kind of wisdom you’d expect to get from a master of the art: Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On October 30, 2016 | Updated May 6, 2026 | Comments (0)
Novelist and short story writer Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) rose to fame with her haunting classic short story The Lottery in 1948. Her output (six novels, four children’s books, and dozens of short stories) continued apace during the years of childrearing.
She also mined family adventures and misadventures for wry, cheery observations in her memoirs, Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons. These family stories may well have inspired the genre that Laura Shapiro called “the literature of domestic chaos” later perfected by Erma Bombeck and Jean Kerr. Echoes of this form reverberate into today’s abundance of “momoirs” and motherhood blogs. Read More→
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