With my voracious intake of social media, I can’t remember where I saw it, but someone was talking about how writers can’t be judgmental because of their need to write fully realized characters. This struck me because I’ve learned that I can be very judgmental as a person, which I’m working on, and I surely don’t want to be that way in my writing. There are certain attributes that make great writers. Most are curious, observant, readers, etc. I’m now adding non-judgmental to the list. Or as close as we can get to it, because who am I kidding? I’ll never be all the way there.

the craftAshley M. ColemanJanuary 21, 2024writing craft, writing career, fiction writingComment

the craft. keep your eyes on your own paper.

After seeing the film American Fiction with a few of my writing friends, it got me thinking about some of the overall themes that were brought up in the film about literature and the publishing and entertainment industries as a whole.

the craftAshley M. ColemanJanuary 1, 2024writing, writing career, writing goalsComment

the craft. taking yourself seriously.

At this point, I’ve spent a lot of years talking to other writers. Recently, I had this revelation about what keeps a lot of writers from actually completing things and it was this fact, a lot of them don’t take themselves seriously enough. Hear me out and my apologies if it sounds harsh.

the craftAshley M. ColemanDecember 3, 2023writing, mindset, writing careerComment

the craft. what is making a living as a writer?

Many of us dream of being able to write for a living. But I think it’s important to define exactly what that means. When you think of a life as a writer, what does that entail? How do you make your money? While we romanticize the idea, I know I have, it may involve some creativity and ingenuity to make it make sense.

publishingAshley M. ColemanSeptember 16, 2023writing career, publishing, financesComment

the craft. buckling down for the fall.

The sun is already beginning to set a little earlier, and I’m wondering where exactly the summer had to be. Word on the street is the world is spinning faster on its axis, however, I’m thinking it comes with getting older. Time is flying either way, which has made me want to be a lot more intentional about how I’m spending it.

processAshley M. ColemanSeptember 10, 2023writing, black authors, writing career

the craft. contorting ourselves into spaces.

I’m not sure it was the best idea for my first retreat experience to be all Black women because I don’t know that I can open myself up to anything less than the standard Amanda Johnston, founder of Torch Literary Arts, created for us. For half of the cohort, it was our first retreat experience. The other half warned that the loving, supportive environment present was not necessarily a requirement for others.

the craftAshley M. ColemanAugust 20, 2023writing, writing craft, writing career, residencies, writing retreatsComment

the craft. knowing when you're done.

I’ve been working on a manuscript over the past year and some change that I recently sent over to my agent for her feedback. And even as my cursor hovered over the send button, I was having second thoughts. Maybe I needed to read it one last time. But then I had to remind myself, this is not the finished product. It’s a draft. If publishing my debut novel taught me anything, it’s that there will still be a lot more feedback coming down the pipeline. So it doesn’t have to be perfect, just done.

publishingAshley M. ColemanFebruary 13, 2023writing, drafting, writing careerComment

the craft. stick and stay.

Most of us started on the simplest, low frills, Blogspot or Wordpress sites and here we are. Published or soon to be published authors. Workshop facilitators like the lovely GG Renee who also graced our cover. Business owners like Lucy Pearl. Red Table Talk guests like Minaa B and the list goes on here.

the craftAshley M. ColemanNovember 6, 2022writing, writing career, craftComment