On Writing: Showing vs. Telling and Why Writers Need Both

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the mantra “show, don’t tell” and I always want to shake my fist and say “not always.”

What Art School Taught Me About Critiquing

As new writers, we don’t always expect editors or beta readers to find fault or weaknesses in our work. However, if we’re looking for community and feedback, the good and bad of critiques won’t go away. And while I was an art student, I worked my butt off in the studio for days, sometimes weeks, only to face the anxiety of others’ feedback. But those paper cuts heal, and we don’t get cut as much in the critiques to come because we’re prepared and we now know that we aren’t perfect. We realize that everything we do will get critiqued by somebody.