Lee Martin

A brief post after a power outage on a snowy day. I’ve been thinking about the fact that teachers of creative writing often teach us something when they don’t seem to be offering much instruction at all. When I think of all the workshops that I’ve taken, it occurs to me that what I remember…

This is a passage of fact and nostalgia: As we make the turn toward Thanksgiving, I’m thinking about my mother’s side of the family and how each year we gathered for a holiday meal at one house or the other. My mother always brought a chiffon cake. My Aunt Myrtle made bread pudding. My Aunt…

This is a post about teaching, but it starts with a visit to my doctor’s office to have some blood drawn for a routine check of my thyroid levels. I smile at the nurse who draws my blood because she seems just a tad weary, or harried, or both on this cold, rainy day just…

My cousin likes to tell the story of the time when she was a girl, about ten years old, and she was on vacation on Sanibel Island with her parents. They went to a gator farm, and there she was given a stick with a marshmallow on the end and told to hold it out…

I was thinking recently of all the ways that we sometimes keep ourselves from writing. Here are but a few: 1.  We wait for inspiration to strike:  Sometimes, particularly in the early years of a writing career, we get the idea that our writing is the result of being inspired, and if we just don’t…

One thing I always tell my students is that they have to learn to read the way a writer must if he or she is going to develop a deeper understanding of craft, but what does that really mean? How does a writer read? I’ll speak only for myself. Years ago, I started reading with…

‘Tis the season when some folks are starting to put their applications together for MFA programs. I hope, then, you’ll forgive me if I rerun this post from last October as a way of helping people think about how to choose the program that’s right for them. Three Tips for Choosing an MFA Program Follow…

Most writers are desperate for validation. We want someone to tell us we’re good. We want to know we’re good because people publish our work, talk about our work, give us awards for our work. We can spend a good deal of energy worrying about such things. The truth is so much of publishing and…

It’s Sunday afternoon, and I’ve agreed to speak to a local writers’ group that meets in a banquet room at an MCL Cafeteria. I’m doing this instead of working on the draft of an essay that I’m eager to finish, instead of prepping for the two workshops I’ll teach this week, instead of writing the…

Accept the fact that you’ll never remember exactly what someone said. Trust me. You may think you will, but you won’t. The thing said is lost to time; all that remains is the shape you give it as you do your best to call it back. 2. Other people will remember the thing said slightly…