Tabla de contenidos para March/April 2026 en Writer's Digest

“The process of getting a book out into the world can sometimes feel like an interminable climb, so when you find yourself losing faith, remember that so many gains can be made by just showing up. Revising that problematic chapter one more time, sending out the next batch of query letters, or turning up at your local bookstore to support a fellow writer—all of it counts. If we just keep showing up for ourselves and for others, good things will follow.” —Alissa Lee, author of With Friends Like These TinyURL.com/mydpsvw8 “And then write, write for pleasure. It’s a skill that takes a lot of practice, and the more you write, the better you’ll get. Don’t worry about who will like it or read it, and don’t chase the popular market,…

PERFECT PACING IN POETRY OK, perfect pacing in poetry is a mirage. There’s no such thing, but there are ways we can improve our pacing within our poems. While perfection is always a hazy illusion on the horizon, we can still take steps to improve our personal processes. Opening Lines Most poems are urgent compared to other genres of writing, because most are more concise, yet work to pack a literary punch. As such, many poems set the tone (and pacing) from the very first words and lines. There is no perfect way, but there are different approaches. Some poems may address the reader directly to pull the reader into the poem. Such openings tend to quicken the pace, like a phone call from a loved one, with the reader…

There’s a fluttering sensation I get in my solar plexus when I stumble upon a trailblazing woman—someone whose role in our historical narrative has been marginalized, forgotten, or untold. It was while researching my fifth novel, The House of Eve, that I accidentally discovered a documentary film called Brown Babies: The Mischlingskinder Story by Emmy Award–winning journalist Regina Griffin, featuring an unsung American heroine named Mabel Grammer. The film revealed that during the U.S. occupation of Germany, thousands of biracial children were born to German women and Black American GIs. These children, called “Brown Babies,” were often abandoned to orphanages, unwanted by both countries. As I watched, I felt the unmistakable tug of a story begging to be told. It was a familiar calling that I both loved and dreaded.…

The poet William Carlos Williams wrote lines, ideas, and poems on prescription pads between ministering to patients in his office or on scraps of paper in the car between visits. Alice Munro used to write while her oldest daughter was at school and her youngest napped, according to Mason Currey’s Daily Rituals: How Artists Work. Jane Austen lamented a writing life interrupted by social obligations and family responsibilities, according to her letters. Last week, I was complaining that picking up the dry cleaning and a brunch were cutting into my work time. Though the distractions have changed, modern-day writers have plenty in common with their historical counterparts—it’s hard to find uninterrupted time to write. Day jobs, caregiving, late-night chores, platform building, and social media posts fill today’s to-do lists. By…

One week after our conversation, I had the pleasure of seeing author Lauren Groff speak at The Mercantile Library in Cincinnati, Ohio—a private library nearly two centuries old, nestled on the 11th and 12th floors of the historic Mercantile Building, a stone’s throw from downtown’s Fountain Square. Delivering the library’s 2025 Innovation Lecture to a sold-out audience, Groff spoke about engaging with art amidst authoritarianism, fiction’s transcendent power of inserting one human consciousness into another, safeguarding her time to write, and the freedom to fail radically. Indeed, revelatory failure is central to her success. Take her writing process: Her drafts are written fully in longhand, and as she moves through each draft, she doesn’t refer to the previous one, and she repeats this process until the narrative, at last, steps…

THE CHALLENGE: Write a drabble—a short story of exactly 100 words, excluding the title—based on the photo prompt below. You can be funny, poignant, witty, etc.; it is, after all, your story. CONTEST #141 TO ENTER: Email your entry to YourStory Contest@aimmedia.com with the subject line “Your Story #141.” Entries must be pasted directly into the body of the email; attachments will not be opened. Include your name and mailing address. Entries without a name or mailing address will be disqualified. NOTE: WD editors select the top six entries and post them on our website (WritersDigest.com/wd-competitions/your-story) Join us online in late April, when readers will vote for their favorite to help choose three winners. The winners will be published in a future issue of Writer’s Digest. DON’T FORGET: Your name and…

Something about springtime always gets me thinking about literary publications. Maybe it’s that sense of renewal—new stories, new poems, and new essays—or nostalgia for college campuses where many, but definitely not all, literary journals operate. Regardless of why they’re top of mind, I wanted to share some more paying markets for writers of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction that haven’t been included in previous Publishing Insights columns. So, dust off your manuscripts or write something completely new (to match the season), and figure out a good time to submit to these literary publications that offer payment to writers. THE CINCINNATI REVIEW  (CincinnatiReview.com) Founded in 2003, The Cincinnati Review publishes two print issues a year featuring poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction, translations, drama, reviews, and a portfolio of artwork. This publication pays $25…

When you’re writing a story that’s somewhat based on your own experiences, it’s as if the writing process has been happening your entire life. But the true challenge comes in learning what realities to let go of to let your characters shine in their own way—especially when your hope is to help your young readers see themselves on the page. Author Rin-rin Yu’s debut novel, Goodbye, French Fry, is the story of Ping-Ping, a Chinese American girl living in New York with her parents and her brother, Xy. Her father, an employee at the United Nations, has the chance for a promotion, which means the family might have to move to Kenya. Ping-Ping, already straddling two worlds (one where some don’t think she’s Chinese enough, the other not American enough),…

LOUISIANA 21 ST JAMBALAYA WRITERS’ CONFERENCE, April 25, 2026, Houma, La. Unearth your story with author Mary Manhein, poet Mona Lisa Saloy, LSU Press editor Jenny Keegan, and many more. Workshops on the business, the craft, and specific genres will be presented throughout the day. Participate in our First Page Blind Auditions. To register email jwc@mytpl.org. For more information about the presenters and sessions visit Mytpl.org/jwc. Contact: jwc@mytpl.org Mytpl.org/jwc PENNSYLVANIA THE WRITE STUFF WRITERS CONFERENCE, March 12–14, Center Valley, Pa. Presented by the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group. Keynote: Kristin Bair. Thursday: morning—strong openings; afternoon—POV. Friday: morning—author brand and platform; afternoon—publishing. Saturday: 14 sessions (including creative nonfiction, world-building; query letters, synopses, writing for children, humor, and more). Agent/editor appointments! Attendees have access to session recordings online for a limited time. Recordings only…

My phone did a software update in the dark of the night and now the keyboard has changed ever so slightly. I can’t tell if the keys are a different size, but certainly the entire keyboard has shift up just a hair. Suddenly, every message I create is gibberish. I can no longer type at the same pace I did before because my muscle memory of where the keys were has me making error after error. When I figure out how to do something, I tend to go faster over time and at some point, inevitably, errors occur. What I thought was going to save me time ends up taking longer because I have to fix things. If I’d gone slower from the start, I would’ve likely finished faster in…

Fragments don’t wait politely in line like full sentences. They jump the queue, tap your shoulder, and shout, “Hey, this part matters!” Readers feel that spark instantly. They’re quick hits of voice and momentum, and when you drop them in the right spots, boom—instant oomph. WHAT IS A FRAGMENT? On a grammar worksheet, a sentence needs two key things: a subject and a verb that shows action or state of being. Remove one of those, and you have a fragment. • On the kitchen table • Racing through the alley • A very bad idea Each example hints at a full picture yet stops just shy of a full sentence. Fragments cause readers to lean in. HOW FRAGMENTS SHAPE VOICE AND RHYTHM Consider these two versions: Lucy heard footsteps behind…

Ericka Tiffany Phillips is a literary agent at the Stephanie Tade Agency, representing nonfiction authors whose “work have the power to shape culture and catalyze collective transformation,” she says. Born in Chicago and raised in New York, Phillips has two decades of experience as a meditation enthusiast and guide and is a lifelong storyteller. A student of Black American foodways and ancestral food traditions, Phillips also co-founded Dottie’s Market, a celebrated restaurant in Savannah (named after her great-grandmother). She now consults on community-centered creative culinary projects. Phillips says she brings a holistic, deeply human approach to developing and positioning books that nourish both readers and the larger culture. “Few things nourish us the way books do,” she says. “Books help us understand who we are, where we came from and…

If you’re like me, when you started writing, you followed rudimentary instincts on all craft questions. Characters simply appeared out of thin air; they did things (or they didn’t!). The setting was described. Sometimes. Eventually, inevitably, in my case, a character stood at the window, arms akimbo (why always akimbo?) and stared, deep in thought. At last, I realized I was making hundreds of craft decisions, and without rationale. In fact, every word was a decision. Who put all these adverbs in my story?! The first craft element I deliberately started controlling was pacing. Specifically, scene length. Finally, I could rush past boring things and slow down to savor the more delicious moments. Before we get into the nitty-gritty here, it’s useful to think about averages. What Is a Scene?…

Save the Dates! MARCH 19 Platform Building When You’d Rather Write APRIL 9 Marketing Your Book Without Social Media MAY 7 Research Agents and Publishers Like a Pro JUNE 25 What It Takes to Sell Your Memoir or Hybrid Memoir JULY 9 Key Book Publishing Paths SEPTEMBER 24 Improve Your Author Website OCTOBER 22 Substance Over Substack NOVEMBER 12 Build a Better Bio (It Matters More Than You Think) DECEMBER 10 Hybrid Publishing Versus Self-Publishing Visit WritersOnlineWorkshops.com to find out more and register.…

Every January, writers announce their plans for the year ahead. Some go to social media to make their goals known. Others share their ideas with trusted writing friends. Many will simply collect their goals in a notebook. Finish the draft. Query an agent. Grow your platform. Read more books. Go to a conference. As an agent, I pay close attention to these goals because they’re often the first glimpse into how a writer thinks about their work. Long before I ever read your work, your goals show me your relationship with the process of being an author and shed light on what you value, how you pace yourself, and how you imagine a career unfolding. More importantly, the kinds of goals you set usually mirror the way you approach the…

If the opening of your creative writing project starts at the wrong spot or in the wrong way, it won’t matter if the rest of your story or novel, essay or book, is perfectly paced. Readers will give up before they get into the heart of your writing. Yet for many writers—including, very much, me!—knowing where to begin can feel overwhelmingly challenging. To the rescue: story questions! THE READER’S POV With a well-crafted beginning, story questions immediately begin to arise for the reader: • That oblique aside about a difficult past. What happened? • The character who’s insisting she will keep on her coat even though she’s indoors in a warm restaurant … is she just cold? Is there something in her coat pocket she must protect? • Images of…

Learn to read like a writer from books both new and older. Frontlist The Fourth Princess: A Gothic Novel of Old Shanghai by Janie Chang (William Morrow, gothic historical fiction, February 2026) SYNOPSIS: Set in Shanghai in 1911, Lisan Liu has just been hired to be the private secretary of a wealthy American woman, Caroline Stanton, who has recently moved into Lennox Manor, a once grand house with a dark history. But Lisan, who has been told she was found orphaned on the streets as a young child, now must convince her strict but kind guardian that she should be allowed to work outside his home. With permission granted, Lisan moves into Lennox Manor, where the other servants are convinced the ghost of a past resident contributes to the unsettled…

SADEQA JOHNSON (Sadeqa.net)is the New York Times–bestselling author of six novels, including Keeper of Lost Children. The House of Eve was an instant New York Times bestseller, Reese’s Book Club selection, NAACP Image Award nominee, Goodreads Choice Award finalist, and Target Book Club pick. Her previous novel, Yellow Wife, was the Library of Virginia’s Literary People’s Choice Award winner, Goodreads Choice Award finalist, Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy finalist, BCALA Literary Award honoree, and a Barnes & Noble Book Club selection. Originally from Philadelphia, Sadeqa currently lives near Richmond, Va. WILLIAM KENOWER (WilliamKenower.com) is the author of Everyone Has What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt, Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write With Confidence, and Write Within Yourself: An Author’s Companion, and is the editorin-chief of Author…

Over the past few years, I have written well over 2,000 microfiction stories, most of them drabbles (100-word stories) and dribbles (50-word stories). I have learned when it comes to writing fiction this short, important decisions have to be made regarding how you use dialogue—or even if you should use it at all. My experiences have helped me to develop three different approaches when it comes to writing dialogue for microfiction stories: 1) don’t use it at all, 2) use it sparingly, and 3) use it extensively. There are arguments to be made for each of these, so I have shared some stories below that explore each of these options. NO DIALOGUE Love on a Plate She delighted in cooking for him. This was how she expressed her love. She…

Delali Adjoa The Free Verse Society (Young adult romance, March, Peachtree Teen) “A tender hate-to-love YA romance about two teens who connect through their high school poetry club, where the power of the written word tears down the walls they’ve built around their hearts.” WRITES FROM: Atlanta. PRE-SOCIETY: I was drafting a historical novel and was perpetually stuck in the research trap. I lacked the confidence that I could actually complete a manuscript. … I pivoted to a contemporary romance, thinking it would be easier to finish. It was supposed to be a practice book, and I didn’t think it was good enough to publish, but I didn’t realize then that I was judging my art before it was done. TIME FRAME: I wrote the first draft during a monthlong writing…

One of my side gigs is playing percussion in regional symphony orchestras. Now and then, in the written music, we come across the notation G.P., which stands for Grand Pause. It’s a completely open moment of silence. The conductor decides how long the pause will last. What’s the purpose? Threefold: to let the audience (and the musicians!) catch their collective breath, to make what follows stronger in contrast to the silence, and to create suspense. There the conductor stands, arms lifted, poised to give the next downbeat as the last phrase echoes away. Quiet. And then—a cataclysm? A gentle suggestion of reconciliation? Something else we couldn’t possibly have foreseen? We all know fiction requires pauses too. Apart from chapter breaks and section breaks, authors write moments of quiet for their…

We had escaped the dying city and set out into the dust, hoping to find refuge. But the drought spared no one, and we lost many of our caravan to the wasteland. After walking without end, on our last night, we collapsed without tent or blanket, wasted the last of our tears, and prayed for death to take us all together. The moon spared us her light so we did not see ourselves perish. “That is how our story started,” the guide said solemnly. The more dramatic, the more they tipped. People loved a miracle. “Some say they fell from the sky, others think they emerged from the ground, but these are the original pods of Seven. All we know is that one day they simply arrived to save our…