By Katrin Schuman

All writers are a crazy mixture of egotistical, manic, single-minded, optimistic on the one hand and sensitive, catastrophizing, scattered and pessimistic on the other - at least all the ones I know. How do we live and produce work in a world filled with such extremes? Especially now when our political and physical reality is so chaotic?

I'm amazed by writers who stop reading in their genre while writing their own books. The majority of them seem to be worried about becoming overly influenced by the voice, themes and even plot of the book they're reading.

Personally, I can't imagine not reading fiction for the many years it takes me to complete a novel. And in terms of being influenced: I'm actively looking for inspiration and ideas. I want to be influenced.

By Katrin Schumann

For those of you reading this who haven't yet published your first book, I'm sure you've dreamed about your book launch. You'll have thought about whether to go big or small, have it at a bookstore, in an event space, bar or library, and who you hope might turn up (maybe even local media!). 

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about launches - both the launch event itself and the "book tour" that happens afterwards. They're a bit like the three martini lunch which used to be common practice and underwritten by your ...

This article was originally published on Dead Darlings.  

Michelle Hoover, Novel Incubator instructor and author of Bottomland, shares some of her tips to help get you back to your writing desks during this time and calm the nerves just enough to concentrate for an hour or two or more.

By Katrin Schumann

I sat down to write this post and have now written four openings and ditched them all.

What do writers need to hear in times like this? How can I be helpful to others when that which binds us--our obsessive love of words, books, writing--is overshadowed so universally by our fear of the unknown? 

Do I tell you how to make lemons out of lemondade?* Do I reveal that I'm writing page after page despite the uncertainty and boredom