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On Putting the Pencil Down
Hi, friends. Some time over the course of writing these letters to you, I stumbled upon the closing Pencils Up. I don’t know where it came from or when…
Marsha McSpadden
May 8
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On Putting the Pencil Down
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The Authorial Voice
Hi, friends. Hope you are well. It’s warming up here, summer is on the way and I am two exams and a week or so of grading from being my summer self…
Marsha McSpadden
Apr 24
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The Authorial Voice
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The Problem with Cleverness
Hi, friends. I hope you are well, that spring is whispering all kinds of possibilities in your ear. Over the last month or so, I’ve DNF’ed two novels…
Marsha McSpadden
Apr 10
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The Problem with Cleverness
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Outside, Looking In
Hi, friends. I hope you are well. There are some weeks, like this one, where it doesn’t feel as though I have any profound advice to give. It’s not…
Marsha McSpadden
Mar 27
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Outside, Looking In
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The Burden of Originality
Hi, friends. Today I want to talk about the burden of originality and how this notion trips us up sometimes. As writers, we like to think that we are…
Marsha McSpadden
Mar 13
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The Burden of Originality
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The Importance of Story
Hi, friends. There are weeks when I don’t know how to square the relative comfort of my life with all that is going on in the world at large. This has…
Marsha McSpadden
Feb 27
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The Importance of Story
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Hitting the Same Note
Hi, friends. I don’t know if it’s the cabin fever of February or a feeling born from lack of control, but writers have been an angsty bunch on the…
Marsha McSpadden
Feb 13
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Hitting the Same Note
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Narrative distance
Hi, friends. I hope you are well as January comes to a close. On my walk this week, I saw three daffodils in bloom. A sign that spring will be here…
Marsha McSpadden
Jan 30
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Narrative distance
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On Agency
Hi, friends. I’ve been thinking about agency this week - the degree to which characters, and maybe writers themselves, have agency to act, how the…
Marsha McSpadden
Jan 16
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On Agency
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The Anxiety of Decisions
Hi, friends. I hope this new year finds you well, with a pocketful of hope and optimism about what could be. I hadn’t read any Clarice Lispector before…
Marsha McSpadden
Jan 2
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The Anxiety of Decisions
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Rest, Read, and Recharge
Hi, friends. Here we are, the end of another year upon us. They just keep coming along, don’t they? There is, I think, a want this time of year for us…
Marsha McSpadden
Dec 19, 2021
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Rest, Read, and Recharge
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The Pyramid of Knowledge
Hi, friends. We’ve made it to December (which someone recently referred to as the Friday of the year). I imagine some of you put goals to paper at the…
Marsha McSpadden
Dec 5, 2021
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The Pyramid of Knowledge
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