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The First Novel Ever Typed

By Evan Swensen| 04/02/2025
  Mark Twain was a man of many firsts. He wrote some of the most beloved American novels, traveled the world, and even held patents for inventions (including an adjustable … 0 More

Why Mediocrity Has No Place in Writing

By Evan Swensen| 03/31/2025
    “There are certain things in which mediocrity is intolerable: poetry, music, painting, public eloquence.” Jean de La Bruyère’s words strike like a warning bell for every writer who … 0 More

Writing in the Dark

By Evan Swensen| 03/28/2025
    The biggest mistake an author can make isn’t a weak opening line or a sagging middle—it’s waiting until the book is published to find an audience. Writing in … 0 More

The Gift That Changed Literature

By Evan Swensen| 03/26/2025
Have you ever received a Christmas gift that changed your life? Maybe it was a childhood bicycle, a book that sparked a lifelong love of reading, or a lottery ticket … 0 More

The Power of Criticism

By Evan Swensen| 03/24/2025
  “It is, I think, as clear as daylight that literature can only be kept alive by criticism.” Henry James, a master of psychological realism, understood an undeniable truth about … 0 More

The Art of Letting Readers See

By Evan Swensen| 03/21/2025
There’s an old saying in writing circles—probably scrawled on a thousand sticky notes across the desks of aspiring authors—that commands, Show, don’t tell. The phrase is gospel in every writing … 0 More

The Novel That Never Used ‘E’

By Evan Swensen| 03/19/2025
  Some people run marathons. Others climb mountains. But in 1939, one man decided to challenge himself in an entirely different way—by writing an entire novel without using the letter … 0 More

The Wordsmith’s Drug

By Evan Swensen| 03/17/2025
    “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” – Rudyard Kipling Language is no mere tool. It hypnotizes, soothes, incites, and heals. Kipling understood this … 0 More

The Peril and Power of Words

By Evan Swensen| 03/10/2025
  “Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.” — Hermann Hesse Hermann Hesse … 0 More