In your writing life, if you are anything like me, you’ve scrolled through new book deals on Publishers Marketplace and been seized by Envy. You’ve abandoned your essay and spent four Slothful hours poking around online when you meant to just look up the difference between “continual” and “continuous.” You’ve felt too Proud to accept not-so-flattering comments from workshop members on your beloved piece. In short, you’ve fallen prey to the sins—all 7 deadly ones—in your writing life.
Cheryl Wilder—my friend, fellow VCFA graduate, and colleague with Floating House Writers Workshop and Retreat—and I are deliciously, sinfully thrilled to unveil our series called 7 Deadly Sins of the Writing Life. Months ago, we admitted to each other that we sin. Kind of a lot. We examined how and why we fall to sin, then asked 7 writers at different stages in their careers to weigh in. What results is a week-by-week exploration of sin, virtue, failure, success, transgressions, triumphs, and writing—always, the writing.
The series kicks off TODAY with Cheryl’s wise, wonderful Introduction. Starting next Monday, we publish a sin a week for 7 weeks. Our hope is that readers and writers will examine their own sinful ways, join in the conversation, open up with personal stories, and share tips on how to overcome pitfalls in order to stay on the path of writing.
Many, many, many thanks to Editor Claire Guyton for guidance and wisdom and late-late-night humor, and to Hunger Mountain for the magnificent platform.
And a huge thanks to our 7 forthright and fabulous informants:
Lavonne Adams
Adam Arvidson
Rich Farrell
Tavia Gilbert
Jennifer Lunden
Jason Mott
Risa Nye
Please visit Hunger Mountain and sin with us for a while!
Suzanne Farrell Smith 