by Maura Casey | Aug 13, 2022 | posts
Writing a good lede is like meeting an angry drunk in a dark parking lot. You have to hit him over the head right away to get his attention. At least, that’s what an editor told me early in my career. While the comparison is a bit violent for my taste, it is...
by Ruth W. Crocker | Jul 23, 2022 | posts
Not long ago in a writing workshop, a colleague offered to read a personal essay I had written about a difficult life experience. My kind friend reported back that he felt as if I were dragging him, sad and depressed, to the abysmal end of the story. “I don’t want to...
by Bethe Dufresne | May 19, 2022 | posts
“How do you choose a book?” Washington Post book critic Michael Dirda asked and answered recently, which naturally led me and other Mystic Writers, all avid readers, to have our say. Dirda’s advice to consult book lists by famous writers works only occasionally for...
by Lisa Brownell | Mar 1, 2022 | posts
My first novel, Gallows Road, is now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the publisher Elm Grove Press; soon it will be in a few local bookstores. Friends have often asked me, “Is this a true story you’re writing, Lisa?” Although certain plot elements and...
by Ginny Bitting | Dec 9, 2021 | posts
This past October, clutching my mug of tea, I surveyed the unpainted pottery bowls and leaves laid out on the table and selected a leaf with curling edges just larger than my hand. The six of us in the workshop painted our pieces. The workshop leader, Trish, planned...
by Maura Casey | Nov 8, 2021 | posts
In my mid-30s, mourning the unexpected death of a sister and wanting a change, I traveled to Ireland for the first time. I visited the farm in County Mayo that had been in my family since the 1600s. It was a lesson in the power of setting. I had always taken my Irish...
