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If You Have Five Seconds to Spare

~ Then I'll Tell You the Story of My Life

If You Have Five Seconds to Spare

Category Archives: Creativity

A surefire way to blend scene and reflection in essays

July 8, 2021

The hallmark of an effective memoir or essay is the blend of scene and reflection, or the “show AND tell.” …

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How do you work? Cluttered or clean?

May 4, 2021

I find this quote attributed most often to Albert Einstein. My home space is cluttered, and my mind definitely feels …

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The beauty of persistence

April 20, 2021

Back before I had a book to my name, I would see published authors and feel this intense need/want to …

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Do you succumb to envy?

March 31, 2021

This essay by Erika Schickel in L.A. Observed received some flack when it first came out years ago. In the …

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What some writers have in common with the Backstreet Boys

March 21, 2021

I heard a conversation the other day regarding the relationship between writers and their readers (aka the “audience”). And this …

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How to generate ideas for memoir

March 16, 2021

Photo Credit: MarkGregory007 Flickr via Compfight cc  I distinctly remember writing an essay in a writing workshop and then thinking, …

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What bold thing can you do today?

March 10, 2021

I love Jen Sincero! Her books and daily calendar inspire me. This particular quote really stood out. I did a …

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Use rejections to treat yourself!

February 24, 2021

I’m in the process of querying my manuscript and that means getting a lot of rejections. It takes patience to …

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A tip for managing unwieldy essays

February 16, 2021

I’m a big fan of dumping my ideas onto a piece of paper when I’m writing an essay. It helps …

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What I’m good at

February 5, 2021

God bless Jami Attenberg. If you don’t subscribe to her “Craft Talk” writing newsletter, I highly recommend doing so. She’s …

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Twitter Updates

  • "Do a search for 'was,'" I told my writing students. "You often can find a better word." I decided to do the exer… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 12 hours ago
  • How long -- like only 6 minutes? 😂 twitter.com/IronMaiden/sta… 12 hours ago
  • I recorded my @KmsuMaverick show yesterday (airs 3 p.m. CT Tuesday, April 4) -- I began with a polka and ended with… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 12 hours ago
  • "It got to the point where Cam didn’t want to tell their mom anything about their life because they knew it would b… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 15 hours ago
  • I wish all campuses would understand the importance of student press. Here at @MNSUMankato we have been very fortun… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 15 hours ago
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Twitter Updates

  • "Do a search for 'was,'" I told my writing students. "You often can find a better word." I decided to do the exer… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 12 hours ago
  • How long -- like only 6 minutes? 😂 twitter.com/IronMaiden/sta… 12 hours ago
  • I recorded my @KmsuMaverick show yesterday (airs 3 p.m. CT Tuesday, April 4) -- I began with a polka and ended with… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 12 hours ago
  • "It got to the point where Cam didn’t want to tell their mom anything about their life because they knew it would b… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 15 hours ago
  • I wish all campuses would understand the importance of student press. Here at @MNSUMankato we have been very fortun… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 15 hours ago
Follow @rachael18

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