Library of League of Vermont Writers

By Shawn Thomas Anderson Let this quirky collection of images inspire you. Write an original piece, selecting one (or more) of these pictures drive your story...

By Amy Braun Connie May Fowler , author of a recently released memoir entitled A MILLION FRAGILE BONES (AMFB), has published seven other books and received the Chautauqua South Literary Award, the Francis Buck Award from the League of American Pen Women, and the 1996 Southern Book Critics Circle Award. She also adapted her book Before Women Had Wings into an Emmy-winning film which starred Oprah Winfrey.

By Hank Parker Midway between lunch and the ice cream social I met with a dozen other writers in Jerry Johnson’s comfortable living room to chat about my bioterror thriller, CONTAINMENT (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone, 2017)...

By Kathy McKinley Harris This is the story of my evolution as a poet. Over the years of my League membership (I joined in 1978) I’ve learned what attendees want from a meeting is something useful they can take home. Maybe you take home only one useful thing from a meeting. Well, then, you are that much ahead on your writing journey...

By Pat Esden. I’m delighted to have been invited to chat about using your sense to get into the writing zone. I’m the author of The Dark Heart series from Kensington Books, and the upcoming Northern Circle Coven series...

By Mark Pendergrast At “Into the Words,” I explained why and how I have four new books being published in 2017, despite calling myself “semi-retired” as a writer – meaning that I want to avoid having book deadlines for a while, work on my novel, smell flowers, travel, and so on...

By Michele Lemieux-Madison According to all the sources I consulted, having a marketing plan, for a freelance writer, is incredibly important because it is too easy to get sidetracked along the way to the next big assignment. But let’s face it, with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, e-newsletters, and others, it is easy to feel overwhelmed...

By Shannara Johnson A continuation from PART 1... Coming all the way from Vermont and having endured a grueling twelve-hour journey to get here. I opted for the full experience. It includes a daily morning workshop facilitated by a published author, agent, or editor—four hours every day, twenty hours a week, in small groups of ten to fourteen.

By Shannara Johnson “Saturated” might be the proper word for how it feels after you’ve attended the annual WIFYR conference in beautiful Sandy, Utah (pronounced Wee-fur, short for Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers). It’s not in the Writer’s Digest or the Guide to Literary Agents, which also lists all the major conferences in the US. Nobody I know—even the true conference addicts—has ever heard of WIFYR, though it is anything but new.

Alyssa Berthiaume Are you a member of LVW and would like to provide a presentation or workshop, reading, or other offering at this year’s Into the Words?

By Faithe Thomas and Annalisa Parent Being able to write does not mean your book is ready to publish. Even the best writers know that their work needs to go through various levels of editing, re-writing, and proofing - and not just by anyone, but by someone who knows what they are doing.

By Michele Lemieux-Madison The best piece of writing advice I’ve ever read – although I’m now reading Joni B. Cole’s Good Naked, so that may change – came from The Writer Magazine in their November-December 2016 edition, titled Finding your Flow...

By Jeanette Segale I’m about to enter the world of writing words that others will read. As I transition into my new writing career, I’ve spent the past couple months revisiting how to write. I want to share with you the first assignment that struck home for me. It’s from the book authored by Fairfax & Moats in The Way To Write: “Look up these three words in a good dictionary and consider how their meanings interrelate: author, authority, authentic.“

I recently completed my second novel and have been anxiously pondering how to publish it. After self-publishing my first book (The Flower Eater) in a burst of naive hopefulness, I've since learned how daunting the marketing process can be...

By Shawn Thomas Anderson An original monthly writing prompt: You wake from a trance. You’re standing in a strange place, with hands covered in something...

LVW announces its spring writing program, and would like to invite writers from all over the state, both published and pre-published, to attend. The program’s theme is Springtime is the Write Time: Inspirational Words to Open Your Mind, Create & Live By It is scheduled for 9:00AM to 3:00PM on April 29, 2017 at the Best Western, Waterbury (right off I-89)...

By Annalisa Parent “Nobody should be looking for an agent if their manuscript isn’t ready,” Eric Ruben, Top Literary Agent said in a recent Writing Gym podcast interview. Eric represents not one, not two, but many New York Times Best Sellers--so he should know...

By Shawn Thomas Anderson I just love this image of these boys running through the field. There’s something nostalgic about it—something dramatic and slightly foreboding, yet curious, adventurous, and fun. Take these boys on a journey...

By Shawn Thomas Anderson Hygge (pronounced hue-gah or hoo-gah) is the Danish concept for coziness. It’s about embracing simplicity, taking pleasure in quiet moments and creature comforts… As writers, we could all gain a great deal from embracing this lifestyle hack...

By Lisa Halvorsen Posted on the bulletin board in my office is the saying, "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." It's a philosophy I live by, and as a travel writer have parleyed that sentiment into a fulfilling career...