The Writer's Life
Smart Women Write about 2020
Welcome to a new decade! To celebrate this transition, we are looking back on 2019 and sharing our hopes and goals for 2020.
The Writer's Life
This was the heart of the blog: how the writing actually got done. Morning pages borrowed from Julia Cameron, a buddy system for accountability, tricks for getting a dissertation over the line, a four-part tour of the authors’ writing desks, and honest posts about the weeks when nothing came.
Read them as a set and a few habits keep coming back: write a little every day, tell someone your goal, and stop treating the blank page as a verdict on your worth.
The Writer's Life
Year End Reflections: What I’ve Learned
In a prior post I wrote about my dedication to reading this year and I am happy to announce that I did reach my goal of completing 40 books.
The Writer's Life
End-of-Semester Retreat & Reflection
I recently went on a four-day silent retreat at an abbey in Kentucky. Retreatants are given a simply furnished room to sleep in, and every day…
The Writer's Life
Collaborative Writing in the Humanities: Lessons in Co-Authorship
History is a relatively solitary field. The vast number of articles and books written have just one author, and many historians go their whole…
The Writer's Life
Writing the Maid of Honor Speech
Oh, not everyone takes paper up with them to make their maid-of-honor speech? One of the perks of being a writer is that you’ve always got words-…
The Writer's Life
When inspiration doesn’t hit, write.
I’m going to be honest. I struggled to write my post this month. It might have been the long to-do list leading into Spring Break (next week!), or…
The Writer's Life
Writing a Trade History Book, Part 2: The Proposal
Click here to see Writing a Trade History Book, Part 1: The Introduction. When I wrote my first Non-fiction book proposals, with all of its…
The Writer's Life
Writing With A Day Job
I think it’s something every working writer struggles with. Most of my friends write, some of them full-time, and others on the side of a full or…
The Writer's Life
Writing Resolutions
I wasn’t surprised when Marie Kondo started trending on my Twitter feed. Not only did her show, “Tidying up with Marie Kondo”, recently debut on…
The Writer's Life
A SmartWomen’s Year in Review: Writing Fail (Part III)
I caught my first episode of Netflix’s Nailed It! tonight, and this might either be the perfect metaphor for what I want to say this week, or the…
The Writer's Life
A SmartWomen’s Year in Review: Writing Audience (Part II)
I read about Lynn’s year of writing and my first thought was “that’s excellent! I love when people decide on a path, then walk it despite their…
The Writer's Life
A SmartWomen’s Year In Review: Writing in 2018 (Part I)
“’I don’t know what you’ve got in mind,’ said Pippi, ‘but I’m not the sort to lie around. I’m a thing-searcher, you see.
The Writer's Life
The Big Draw: Sketching to See the World
I’ve always considered it a great failing in my education that I never had the chance to take drawing classes, or any art making classes for that…
The Writer's Life
Finding Seeds of Hope in Your Work
When it seems like the world around me is falling apart, sometimes I just feel like throwing my hands up in the air and giving up on humanity.
The Writer's Life
Self Care for Women Writers in the Age of Kavanaugh
I’m a historian of Atlantic Africa, the slave trade, and Africans in the Americas, so often that’s where my focus is.
The Writer's Life
Lessons from Smart Women Writers: Overcoming Writing Stalls
“Writing is to academia what sex was to nineteenth-century Vienna: everybody does it and nobody talks about it.” (Wendy Laura Belcher) This is the…
The Writer's Life
The Elusive Nonfiction Writing Voice
I’ve always been somewhat of a giant. Being the tallest kid in every class made me a bit shy, and so I retreated often into my head, where all of…
The Writer's Life
The Smart Woman’s Writing Desk, Part IV
Even though Virginia Woolf’s famous essay about the importance of creative space for women (both public and private) was published in 1929, it…
The Writer's Life
The Smart Women’s Writing Desk, Part 3
About a year ago, I posted these pictures of my home writing space on Instagram. These photos were a part of my virtual “save me from my…
The Writer's Life
The Smart Women’s Writing Desk, Part 2
My turn! I’m excited to give you a peak into my home office this week; unlike Angela , I didn’t clean for you, but I’m just going to go with it.
The Writer's Life
The Smart Women’s Writing Desk, Part 1
I know it doesn’t look like it, because my home desk is an eccentric travesty (or the desk of a maverick, as one of my super kind friends always…
The Writer's Life
Introducing: Raquelle Bostow
I’m so incredibly pleased to introduce to you the newest member of team SWW! Raquelle Bostow is a truly dangerous woman who has experience as…
The Writer's Life
Choosing Your Next Writing Project
I’m pretty young, and already I have more projects ideas than I will be able to write in this lifetime.
The Writer's Life
On trying not to lose sight of pursuits well-loved
I’m going through a dry spell right now: books sit next to my bed, unopened, and my ebook readers are chock full of titles I’ve planned to get to…
The Writer's Life
Where History is Alive
Actually, I’m not sorry. I’m late with my post because I am on the beautiful Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius for work, and it is so…
The Writer's Life
A Final Post: Reflections and Thanks to Smart Women Write
Today I am writing to announce that I will no longer be writing regular posts for Smart Women Write. This was a really tough decision to make.
The Writer's Life
Being a Writer in 2018
For everyone in our circles, 2017 was filled with too much gin, not enough vegetables, and eternal guilt for not doing more: not resisting more,…
The Writer's Life
On Asking For Help
My job with the Slave Societies Digital Archive is probably one of the coolest I’ve ever had, and just to give you context, I’ve worked in a Scottish…
The Writer's Life
St. Louis Protests 2017: Resource Round-Up
I’ve been thinking of Mandela’s words a lot in the last few days. It’s a reflection that resonates quite a lotfor me, standing on the sidelines as…
The Writer's Life
Revisiting those New Year’s Resolutions
Now that we are three-fourths of the way through the year, I thought it might be a good time to revisit my resolutions for 2017 – or rather, as I…
The Writer's Life
Flirting with Equality, Flirting with Rejections
It’s been awhile, but earlier this year I mentioned my book project in passing – and it turns out I’ve never said much more about it than that.
The Writer's Life
We Create the Disasters, Not Nature
I have a million things I have to write, but I can’t stop thinking about a photo from Houston I saw on social media over the weekend.
The Writer's Life
Writing a Trade History Book, Part 1: The Introduction
Click here to see Writing a Trade History Book, Part 2: The Proposal I’m the kind of person who writes introductions last for pretty much everything.
The Writer's Life
Thought Distortion and Writing: On Showing Your Work
Do you remember being in math class when you were little, and getting points taken off your homework because you didn’t show your work?
The Writer's Life
To Chapters, New and Old
One of the nice things about social media is that you never forget an important date, like the one when you defended your dissertation.
The Writer's Life
There’s No Wrong Way to Do the Morning Pages
Several months back I wrote a blog post about using Julia Cameron’s concept of the Morning Pages (from her book The Artist’s Way ) as a form of…
The Writer's Life
Meeting yourself where you are
Eighteen years later, I still remember the moment I first told someone I wanted to be a writer.
The Writer's Life
A New Goal Emerges: Writing and Resistance in 2017
This morning, I drew a tarot card to give my day some shape, and it was Death. It was the card I’ve needed to see for a while.
The Writer's Life
A Woman’s Place is in the Resistance
All 3 members of Smart Women Write participated in #WomensMarch across the U.S. We’ve joined together to recap our experiences here to tell the…
The Writer's Life
2017: The Year of Writerly Resistance
After our 2016 Holiday Hiatus, we are back with a bang! For new followers and old, welcome to our blog. We’re so glad you’re here.
The Writer's Life
Burnt-out ends of smoky days
I am fifteen and new to this town on the river. I know no one, and this lock-in at this random church is small and strange.
The Writer's Life
Smart Women Write From the Heart About The Election
The election of the new president of the United States was the inglorious epilogue in the global spread of regressive, dangerous ideology.
The Writer's Life
Writing in the Apocalypse of 2016
So many people have said it in the past few months that I don’t even know who I should attribute this quote to.
The Writer's Life
8 Things to Consider when Organizing Your Digital Humanities Writing Group
I do so much work with Digital Humanities for my position. So much. But do I ever write up any of that and submit it to publication? Ha, nope.
The Writer's Life
Journaling and the Morning Pages
In my previous post I wrote about the value of journaling during my dissertation process. In this post, I’ll share a major shift in my practice after…
The Writer's Life
Journaling and My Dissertation
If you follow me on twitter , you’ve probably seen me talk about how much I love the concept of journaling as a way to nurture my creativity, as…
The Writer's Life
The Writing Buddy System
In last week’s post about her writing goals for the year, Tanya mentioned that she and I have been connecting with each other regularly under the…
The Writer's Life
To Learn the Trick*
I’ve spent most of my life with Ray Bradbury’s voice in my head, as told by my dad.** Years ago, my Dad met the author, who told him “Write 500…
The Writer's Life
The Pirate Enthusiast
I’m Angela Sutton, and I write for my job and for fun. Luckily, right now there is a lot of overlap between the two.
The Writer's Life
The Explorer
Hello folks! I’m Bryna Campbell, and I have a PhD in Art History and Archaeology from Washington University in St.
The Writer's Life
The Teacher
I’m Tanya Roth, and I completed my PhD in American history at Washington University in St. Louis in 2011.
The Writer's Life
Welcome!
Welcome to Smart Women Write, a collaborative blog we’ve created to foster community and forge connections between women writers like us.