Enacting the Edits: Book in Progress, Part 4
Surgeons have often been accused of being emotionally removed from the patient they're operating on, removing 'this' and 'rewiring' that. I could relate to that as I performed literary 'surgery'…
The System is Broken: Using Dissonance to Engage an Audience
Engaging and engrossing writing can be simple or complicated, but never flat. Just as in real life, we can incorporate adversity and differences, rather than avoid them, in order to build a system that feels real and moves our readers. Even when our goal is to find patterns, draw conclusions or describe a beautiful future, our stories are more powerful when we consider the exceptions to the rules we create. Introducing dissonance into our writing invites our readers to bring themselves into the story and empowers them to take our narratives personally.
Decolonize Your Bookshelf: A Call to Action for White Writers and Readers
The mindfulness with which we engage with literature is crucial to creating, deconstructing, and recreating our worldview as we move through life. How do our cultural blindspots influence the stories we tell?
An English Teacher’s Guide for What Makes Writing “Good” and What To Do If It Isn’t
That’s why, several years into my teaching career, I laid down the Red Pen, thanks to some good advice from a colleague, and changed the way I looked at writing instruction entirely. I had to stop working for my students as their copy-editor. Neither of us wanted me to do that job in the first place. In other words, instead of tearing the writing apart, I had to focus on developing what was already there. If I was going to evaluate someone’s writing, it was just as important for me to identify strengths as it was to identify weaknesses. Maybe even more so.
Beta Readers: Book in Progress, Part 3
As my Beta reader, Jo discovered repetition, describing the same era of my career in different pieces or talking about the same aspect of the business in two pieces. She did me a huge favor in pointing out that the reader would have trouble following my stories and trying to place them in some coherent chronological order. From this came her most important suggestion-make the book a memoir, rather than a collection.
What is The Watershed Journal’s Magazine Publishing Process?
Each magazine cycle starts with a one-month submissions period. During this time, writers, poets, photographers and artists email their work to thewatershedjournal@gmail.com in order to be considered for the next edition. There is never a charge to submit to the Journal. As we collect, track and share the submissions within our production staff, we market across platforms to reach as many local storytellers as we can.
Why Storytelling Won’t Die
The very act of telling stories can be transformative. Both storytellers and listeners are given a chance to indirectly disclose themselves. They experience and reveal beliefs and opinions that might otherwise be too uncomfortable to share.
The Process: A Book in Progress, Part 2
I've always been a planner...some say to a fault. Some people have criticized me for "wasting time" planning, when I should just jump in and "git 'er done". I believe good planning is essential to success. So, rather than sitting at my keyboard banging out whatever came into my head...just to get something on paper, I brainstormed with myself.
Why You Should Stick to Your Writing Routine…Even During a Pandemic
Even for writers who write more for themselves than to have their words read by the masses, a writing routine is essential. This is because even the most dedicated of us can find ourselves lost in the shuffle of daily life — paying our bills, going to work, walking the dog, or binging the latest show on Netflix. Writing routines help us to prioritize our craft in the same way we prioritize our exercise regimen or household chores.
Book in Progress, Part 1
Joe Taylor Because much of what I write is in the first person there is often confusion about whether the voice is "me" or "the narrator". For better or worse,…