Carrie Callahan

A non-writer friend of mine recently asked me, "Aren’t you afraid someone will steal your ideas?" She was helping me with my elevator pitch--something every writer should do, I believe--and I had to stop to think about my response. To my surprise, my knee-jerk reaction was, "No, of course not." I had to think about where my reaction came from, because it was definitely not always so sanguine. Worrying about how safe our ideas are is something I've seen a lot online. There is a constant deluge of posts on writing forums and subreddits asking about how to protect ideas, as if they are the sole kernel of importance in our work that, if cloned, somehow destroy the original. I think this idea comes from the way art is portrayed in movies: an artist has an "a-ha!" moment where their premise comes to them in a sudden flurry of inspiration. They knock out an entire painting or manuscript in a single sitting, or they sell the idea for millions of dollar...

It's so easy to lose sight of the goals we have--to feel like we won't fail up, but just keep failing. When I submitted the Clarion application that was ultimately (but kindly) rejected, I also submitted the attached story someplace else: the Writers of the Future contest. For the first time, I wasn't nervous about my submission. I had written what was literally the best story I could at that time, so if I failed it was just because I wasn't there yet and that's OK. Then June rolled around. I went through the WotF forums and found that a lot of people were receiving rejections, so I waited patiently for my email. Only I didn't get an e-mail--I got a phone call. The director of the contest, Joni Labaqui, called me to tell me that I was one of eight finalists for the quarter and that she'd let me know in a couple weeks if I was a winner. I thanked her, and smiled, and did a little dance. Settling in for the wait, I did my best to stay calm, but by wee...

Rejection sucks, but you know what sucks more? Letting yourself disappear. I heard back from Clarion West today. It's the second time I've applied to the workshop, and the second time I've been rejected. On the plus side, I got the "good" rejection you may have seen floating about, so that's something--and that something is everything. Not every publication is gonna like your stories, not every workshop will think you're the best fit for their class, and not every agent is for you. Still, rejection can feel like failure. But there is failing, and then there is failing up . Failing up means recognizing when a rejection doesn't mean "never," just "not right now." When that dreaded e-mail comes, sometimes it's not saying "you suck," but "you're getting better!" or "you're so close. " This is the carrot in the stick-preferring world of writing that can get you through to the next su...

The "Powered By Amazon" writing community, WriteOn announced today that it will be closing as of March 22nd--a little over two years after initially opening to writers. The platform opened on March 11, 2014 and was meant to be Amazon's answer to Wattpad. I think it's easy to get caught up in feeling that Amazon is unfair or cruel for taking away the community it had only started to build--and maybe it is, on some level. But I also think that those posting in the forums in anger about the news miss a vital fact about this and every other free online community: they don't owe you anything. This was a free experiment open to writers, and now that experiment is over. We may never get an explanation as to why it's ending so abruptly--but neither do we deserve one. Shops, cafes, and restaurants close all the time when the customer base cannot support their rent--and online spaces are no different. In the past, online communities have simply withered as the ne...

There is so much advice on the internet. There's advice on how to eat, how to sleep, what that slight pain in your side means, when to see a doctor, and how to negotiate your medical bills. There's also plenty of advice on writing. There are YouTube channels, podcasts, blogs, forums, and ebooks. There is so much content online trying to tell you how to do things that it can be difficult to know who to listen to. To help you sift through the mess, I've decided to offer four questions to ask yourself about any writing advice (that I ask myself): Does this advice in any way serve the person giving it? There are plenty of people out there ready to make a quick buck off of the dreams of writers, so beware any kind of advice that seems to profit the adviser. For example, is one bit of advice that you should take a writing workshop--when they happen to offer a 2 week online writing workshop? Do they encourage doing daily writing exercises, and then offer you a handy ebook ...

All semester I've enjoyed the stimulation of intense learning toward my Masters in English/Creative Writing. The department is extra SF friendly and the faculty is great. Still, I haven't been critiquing or writing as much as I need to. And now I'm full of story. Those who have to write will likely know what I mean, but I'll try and articulate it anyhow. It's like there's a great, big, rough wooden door in my head between my unconscious/subconscious/imagination/dream-self and my outward/conscious expression. And right now there's a massive first slamming itself against the door: Knock knock knock . My veins are pulsing, there's a sheen of sweat on my forehead; I have to open the door. When I do, I know what will happen. There will be a tempest and I'll have to catch it in something: a glass jar, a story, a teacup. At first it's gonna be a mess, like a flood of tiny glass beads that need to be sorted by color. By I...

Outside, it's made of common architecture. It looks like any other structure, though perhaps more like a library than a government building. The entrance is guarded by Self Doubt and Over Confidence , a bust on either side of the door flanked with columns. If you can get passed them, there is a whole world of iconography and imagination on the other side, treasures untold. Along the main chamber is the Pantheon of Writing Gods : Show Don't Tell is an ever-shifting animated statue displaying hints of subtext and the deft hand of it's sculptor. It has no plaque. Writer's Conference  is a labeled alcove with comfortable chairs, a bar, and a coffee stand. A pair of Writing priests sit on a never-ending panel. The Nine Genres ( Literary , Science Fiction , Fantasy , Children's , Romance , Mystery , Western , Horror , Thriller ) take an entire corner to themselves beyond an archway of their subgenre offspring ( Young Adult , Steampunk , Magical Realis...