For many years I wrote about fiction, story, belief, ordinary life, and the questions that shaped my work. More than two thousand essays remain here—not because every one represents my current thinking, but because together they tell the story of a writer learning over time.
Search for a subject, browse by month and year, or begin with the most recent writing below.
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The archive begins with the most recent writing. Use the numbered pages below to move backward through time.
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Joan Didion on Storytelling, the Economy of Words, and Facing Rejection
I’m currently taking a writing, blogging, and coaching sabbatical due to family health issues. For now, I’ll repost selected articles from my Fiction Writing School. I encourage you…
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Vladimir Nabokov on Writing, Reading, and the Three Qualities a Great Storyteller Must Have
I’m currently taking a writing, blogging, and coaching sabbatical due to family health issues. For now, I’ll repost selected articles from my Fiction Writing School. I encourage you…
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The Six Motives of Creativity: Mary Gaitskill on Why Writers Write
I’m currently taking a writing, blogging, and coaching sabbatical due to family health issues. For now, I’ll repost selected articles from my Fiction Writing School. I encourage you…
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So You Want To Be a Writer: Charles Bukowski’s No-Nonsense Antidote to the “Tortured Genius” Mythos of Creativity
I’m currently taking a writing, blogging, and coaching sabbatical due to family health issues. For now, I’ll repost selected articles from my Fiction Writing School. I encourage you…
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Today’s biking
Listening to Sycamore Row by John Grisham.
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John Updike on Writing and Death
I’m currently taking a writing, blogging, and coaching sabbatical due to family health issues. For now, I’ll repost selected articles from my Fiction Writing School. I encourage you…
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Anaïs Nin on Writing, the Future of the Novel, and How Keeping a Diary Enhances Creativity: Wisdom from a Rare 1947 Chapbook
I’m currently taking a writing, blogging, and coaching sabbatical due to family health issues. For now, I’ll repost selected articles from my Fiction Writing School. I encourage you…
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William Faulkner on Writing, the Purpose of Art, Working in a Brothel, and the Meaning of Life
I’m currently taking a writing, blogging, and coaching sabbatical due to family health issues. For now, I’ll repost selected articles from my Fiction Writing School. I encourage you…
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Samuel Delany–Good Writing vs. Talented Writing
I’m currently taking a writing, blogging, and coaching sabbatical due to family health issues. For now, I’ll repost selected articles from my Fiction Writing School. I encourage you…
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Alice Munro’s Nobel Prize Interview: Writing, Women, and the Rewards of Storytelling
I’m currently taking a writing, blogging, and coaching sabbatical due to family health issues. For now, I’ll repost selected articles from my Fiction Writing School. I encourage you…
Richard L. Fricks 