GrubStreet has decided to hold all summer 2020 in-person classes remotely via Zoom video conferencing. To see the full list of all our steps in response to Covid-19, including updates about our space and events click here. 

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

By Katrin Schumann

How long does it really take to write a book? From beginning the first draft to seeing it on bookshelves? It's generally accepted that more books = more success/ happiness. But what does being "productive" really mean, and does it make you happy as a writer? 

I used to think the solution to almost all writerly problems lay in having more time—a comforting thought since I had so very little of that particular commodity. Simple, I thought: when I have more time, I'll do more writing, and I'll be happy and productive.

On some level ...

Last year, I didn't make any New Year's resolutions. Frankly, I was tired of pushing myself so hard, and I thought: hey, how about I just try my best this year? It felt like a gentle enough goal given that I had just started a new job and my first novel was about to be published. While I knew quite a bit about what was ahead (I'd published nonfiction before), I had very little idea about whether the outcome for this book would be good, bad or indifferent, and how I would end up feeling about it all

If your New Year's resolution is to write a lot more than you did this year, then don't miss out on these January 3-hour seminars and 6-hour weekend workshops:

Friday, 1/10 & Saturday, 1/11

• Personal Stories for Public Change: Election Year
• Touchy Feely: How to Get Emotional Without Making a Mess
• So You Want to Be a Writer in 2020? Section A
• Overcoming Writer's Block

Friday, 1/17 & Saturday, 1/18

• Interior Landscapes: Creating Depth in Fiction
• Novel Essentials: Pacing
• Building a World from the Ground Up
• The Mechanics of Powerful Prose
• Jumpstart ...