Tag: Write on the World

Ask the Author

Ask the Author: Can I really become a published author?

Mandy Webster

Dear Mandy,

So this is kind of random, but I wanted to be an author as a teenager and kind of gave up because it was made out to be impossible by the adults in my life. Is getting something published realistic?

A writer’s desk with a globe, maps, travel photographs, a pen and notebook, and a stack of books labeled “Write,” “Revise,” “Submit,” “Publish,” and “Repeat.” A handwritten note reads, “People like us don’t do things like that,” while the notebook reads, “Same dream. Different path. Still possible.
Becoming an author may not be the most practical path according to someone else’s definition of practical—but if writing is the path you’re meant to follow, it’s worth finding your way there.
Listen to this series on youtube!

Answer:
Yes.

Seriously. That’s the short answer. And I know that answer because I spent a lot of my own life believing the opposite. When I was a kid, my grandmother had a wall of old National Geographic magazines. I would sit and page through them, fascinated by the photographs and the stories of places I had never seen. I dreamed of writing for National Geographic someday. I wanted to travel the world and write about the things I saw.

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Writers on Writing

How to create your own creative writing retreat on a budget

Mandy Webster

Sometimes the best way to get more writing done is to stop trying to write at home. I know that sounds strange. After all, home is where most of us write. But home is also where the laundry needs to be folded, the dishes need to be washed, the dog needs to go outside, and the cat has decided that whatever you’re doing is less important than paying attention to them while they rest their behinds on your keyboard. Even when those things aren’t urgent, they’re always there in the back of your mind.

A ramshackle gray barn, rolling hills, and fog settling over the mountains—the perfect backdrop for my most recent creative writing retreat.

That’s one reason I’ve become such a fan of getting away for writing retreats. I’ve been taking long weekend writing getaways for several months now, and I’m amazed at how much work I can accomplish when I remove myself from my everyday environment. The trick is that these don’t have to be expensive, organized writing retreats. You can create your own.

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Writers on Writing

Why fiction can be more powerful than nonfiction when we need to understand social issues

Mandy Webster

Facts matter. We need historians, journalists, researchers, documentaries, investigative reporting, firsthand testimony, and all the other forms of nonfiction that help us understand what actually happened in the world. Facts are essential. Without them, we cannot distinguish history from mythology, evidence from propaganda, or reality from the stories people tell themselves. But sometimes, facts aren’t enough.

Graphic: Why fiction can be more powerful than nonfiction when we need to understand social issues
Facts tell us what happened. Fiction helps us understand what it felt like.
List to this analysis on YouTube!

Sometimes we can know a fact without really understanding it. We can know that human beings were enslaved. We can know that people were displaced from their homes. We can know that women living under oppressive governments lose rights and opportunities. We can know that war changes ordinary people’s lives. We can know that trauma can be passed from one generation to another. And yet we can still struggle to understand what any of those things actually mean to the people experiencing them. That is where fiction can do something extraordinary.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Introducing the Write on the World YouTube channel: Literary analysis you can take anywhere

Mandy Webster

In a world that feels increasingly busy, finding time to sit down with a book or an in-depth essay isn’t always easy—even for people who genuinely love reading. The days get filled with work, errands, commutes, workouts, and all the small in-between moments that rarely leave space for sitting quietly with a novel or a long-form analysis.

But listening is often still possible.

Graphic: Introducing the Write on the World YouTube channel: Literary analysis you can take anywhere
New on Write on the World: You can now take my literary analysis with you wherever you go. Check out the new YouTube channel and subscribe for book reviews, writing videos, and more.

You can listen in the car. You can listen while walking the dog, cooking dinner, or working out. You can even listen while you’re sitting back at the end of a long day, letting your mind settle without needing to focus your eyes on a screen or a page. That’s exactly why I’ve started the Write on the World YouTube channel.

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