The Wise Take Criticism and Turn It to Their Advantage
BY LISA CORTEZ ‘I’m bored already,’ my mother said, removing her reading glasses and throwing my manuscript down on the coffee table. She’d come to my flat for dinner, and when I told her I’d finished the novel I’d been writing for over a year, she asked to read it. So I handed her my […]
Stop Waiting for Permission to Write
BY BELINDA MOUNTAIN The best piece of writing advice I ever received? It was from a professor of journalism in my hometown of Makhanda, Eastern Cape. He looked the 18-year-old me dead in the eye one fine September day and said, ‘What are you waiting for to begin your writing career, a letter of permission?’ […]
The Best Writing Tip: Remember Why You Write
BY LIZ AMOS I have a confession to make: no one told me this. No one sat me down, looked me in the eyes and said, ‘Liz, remember why you’re doing this.’ But I say it. I tell myself – repeatedly – because, at this point in my journey, it’s the distillation of every helpful […]