Today, strangers are walking through my house. They are peering into closets, glancing at the scuff marks on the stairs, maybe silently judging my taste in rugs or the fact that I’ve never fixed that one crooked cabinet door. I’m not there to see it—I’ve been banished to a local café by my realtor, likeContinueContinue reading “Open House: On Strangers, Judgment, and the Writer’s Unease”
Category Archives: editing
Keep the Habit: Why Writers Must Keep Writing (Even in the Gaps)
One of the biggest dangers for a writer isn’t failure—it’s silence. Life has a way of crowding out creativity. Maybe it’s a high-pressure job, a move, a tough parenting stretch, or the illusion that you’ll “get back to it when things calm down.” But here’s the truth: if you stop writing, the skills begin toContinueContinue reading “Keep the Habit: Why Writers Must Keep Writing (Even in the Gaps)”
Why have Beta-Readers if you’re Going to Ignore them?
The usual question is when do you listen to beta-readers and when do you not. The reasoning put forward for the latter action is usually that, beta-readers are human and sometimes they are wrong. And the advice on how to know? See if more than one beta-reader said the same thing. That may be reasonableContinueContinue reading “Why have Beta-Readers if you’re Going to Ignore them?”
Gideon P. Smith 