Towards the end of 2025, I finally finished reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. I say "finally" because although I've had my copy of it since Intro to Creative Writing in my freshman year of college, I'd never actually read it cover to cover. In class, we'd read selected passages from Lamott's book, alongside some from other quintessential reads, including On Writing  by Stephen King and  Letters to a Young Poet by  Rainer Maria Rilke, many of which were photocopied and acc

We all have that one task we keep putting off. You know it'll be better to just get it over and done with, especially in the long run, but you just can't find the time or muster up the initiative to just do the dang thing. A while back, I decided I wanted to go through every single one of my old blog posts and polish them up for a couple of reasons. Formatting, for one. When I first launched my blog, I was using a different platform and some of the formatting didn't carry ove

My blog turns 7 this week! 2025 has been a year of quiet productivity and growth as a writer, and I'm as eager as ever to see what my eighth year in the blogging sphere holds. I started this blog a few months after graduating from college as an unpublished, aspiring writer. While my language around that has changed to terms like " fledgling writer " or "not-yet-published-writer" as I more often use on social media, the number of published books under my belt is still zero. Th

Self-care is important for writers. It's also something we tend to overlook. Many of us are already squeezing our writing into the limited nooks and crannies of our day, so self-care can easily get lost in that hustle and bustle. I've made it a point to be consistent with self-care this year, and one new addition to my routine is going for massages. I've been getting massages regularly for a few months now, and I didn't expect them to become integral to my self-care regimen

If there's one thing writers are known for, it's daydreaming. And for some of us, that includes envisioning our future successes. How we'd celebrate release day. Our books topping the charts and the acceptance speeches and interviews we practice in the shower. Stops we'd love to make on book tours. Dreamcasting the film adaptation and what we'd wear to its red carpet premiere. For me, that list also includes author merch. It's not only a way to get your name or branding out t

January 18, 2026: after the initial publication of this post, the author shared that he is Trans and now goes by Milo. I've updated this post to reflect his preferred pronouns. Everything else remains the same. Disclaimer: this post is not directed towards Milo Winter specifically, nor anyone on or affiliated with his team. via Goodreads The bookish corner of the internet can be a lovely place. Even though it's got its unfavorable areas, it's an asset for writers seeking comm