Catapult | Don't Write Alone

Cover Photo: This photograph shows two people looking at some contracts on a table. One person is adding their signature with a pen.

Book Contracts: Let’s Talk Rights

In the second installment of her column, Kate McKean tells us all about the rights and subrights that could appear in your contract when you sell your book to a publisher.

Oct 26, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: A statue of a tug of war

When Do You Stop Writing?

Let’s give answering this difficult question a shot.

Oct 21, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: A photograph of a grey floor covered with multicolored party streamers, confetti, and ribbons.

The Sound of My Voice: Reading My Audiobook Was an Act of Letting Go

You cannot grow, or heal, or whatever it is we’re trying to achieve when we write though trauma, by distancing yourself from your own pain.

Oct 19, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: This photograph is focused on two wooden drawing mannequins, which are standing and embracing. The background is black and the photo is in black and white with only the figurines illuminated

On Craft, Rhythm, and Writing About Sex

In the first installment of her new column, Megan Pillow shows us how some of the best examples of contemporary writing craft can be found in writing about sex.

Sep 30, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: A photograph of a studio microphone, on a microphone stand and with a filter in front of it, against a black background.

The Sound of My Voice: Narrating My Audiobook Felt Like Doing an Impression of Myself

Even the most authentic voice on the page is a translation, a refraction, an altered version of the author’s actual speaking voice.

Sep 28, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: On the left, we see a picture of the author Michael Seidlinger. He is wearing a black t-shirt with a white splotchy design on it and sits against a black wall. His hand is up to his temple, touching his glasses, and there's a concerned look on his face. On the right, we see the book cover of Michael's novella, RUNAWAYS, which has birds on the cover. Some of the birds are flying off the cover and into the frame of Michael's picture.

How’s the Writing Going, Michael Seidlinger?

“I always battle with the realization that the stuff I write doesn’t need to exist, and I wonder how many people actually want to read the horror and speculative fiction that I write.”

Sep 22, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: This image shows a tiny figurine of a person sitting on top of a pile of gold coins. They are reading a book with their legs crossed.

Book Contracts: Let’s Talk Money

As part of our Money Week series, literary agent Kate McKean shares the first installment of her column on book contracts, this one addressing advances, payouts, and royalties.

Sep 16, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: Art by Eliza Harris

Help! Has Motherhood Made Me Too Sensitive to Write?

In the fourth installment of our Tarot + Craft column, Sarah Elaine Smith gives advice to a writer who is having difficulty putting their main character through trauma

Sarah Elaine Smith

Sep 09, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: A stack of books by Black writers including Colson Whitehead, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Bryan Stevenson, and Ibram X. Kendi sits atop a table.

Bookseller Spotlight: Shirikiana Aina Gerima of Sankofa Video, Books & Café

The Washington, D.C. bookstore “represents the generation of people who kept Black publishing and Black voices alive while they were under attack.”

Aug 25, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: This photograph is of a red barn with a startling blue sky, almost teal, behind it. There are some wispy clouds with tones of purple and yellow, as if the sun is beginning to set. The barn sits on a dirt field and the low hills behind the barn are brown and dry.

Writing the Senses: Sight

In this five-part column, Hannah Howard explores the senses from a craft perspective

Aug 19, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: An image of a person holding a seedling in their hands

How Do I Write Amid Erasure?

Speaking of hijacking, we can subvert the oppressor’s literature.

Aug 05, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: In this gif, a black background sparkles with pale purple stars. Hands with green fingernails extend from the bottom of the image and present a pink card with embossed with swords.

Help! Should I Write What I Want—Or Should I Try to Make Money?

In the third installment of our Tarot + Craft column, Sarah Elaine Smith gives advice to a writer who wonders if their style is too weird for readers

Sarah Elaine Smith

Jul 29, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: An image of Laia Jufresa against a pink background and leaves and mushrooms make a border along the image

Writers Who Eat: Laia Jufresa in Conversation with Bix Gabriel

This is still how I write, and this is also how I cook.

Jul 27, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Putting Your Ear to the Tracks: A Conversation with Leesa Cross-Smith

Jessica Wilbanks asks Leesa Cross-Smith about the craft choices at work in her short story, “Whiskey & Ribbons,” which later became a novel.

Jessica Wilbanks

Jul 22, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: A photograph of Hannah Oliver Depp, a black woman in a dark blue t-shirt and glasses, holding a colorful stack of books and standing in front of full wall-to-wall bookshelves. She looks toward the left of the frame and smiles.

Bookseller Spotlight: Hannah Oliver Depp of Loyalty Bookstores

Depp has built Loyalty into a highly regarded brand, one that honors her vision of an independent bookstore committed to social justice.

Jul 20, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: A collage by Johnny Damm made from a vintage comic book. The collage is of a white man in a purple suit floating in the air above a field of green. He appears to be jumping backwards, facing up toward the sky with lines coming from his body representing movement.

The Poetry of Comics: A Conversation With Johnny Damm, Author of ‘The Science of Things Familiar’

“I’m a writer who uses a scanner, an X-Acto knife, and the library.”

Jul 12, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: In this photo, we have a close up of the body of a cello against a warm, dark background.

Writing the Senses: Sound

In this five-part column, Hannah Howard explores the senses from a craft perspective

Jun 23, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: There are two comic panels. The one on left is the back of cartoon version of Andrew Lorenzi's head looking up at crows flying overhead. It is drawn in surreal colors so the crows are blue and the sky is light pink. The second frame is from above, looking down at Lorenzi and his car in between the crows feathers. The ground below Andrew is lavender and his looks like his frowning. Written across the two frames is "AAAAAAAAAAA" in uneven letters to signify the crows' calls.

The Poetry of Comics: An Interview with Cartoonist Andrew Lorenzi

“Both poetry and comics excel at taking ineffable, hard-to-articulate times in life and making them into something solid.”

Jun 07, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: In this black and white photograph, we see two pale-skinned arms reaching up from the bottom of the photo, as if stretching or reaching toward the sky.

Self-Doubt and Giving Yourself Space

In the final installment of this three-part column, Eva Recinos explores how taking time away from writing is an important part of the process

Jun 03, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns

Cover Photo: In this gif, a black background sparkles with pale purple stars. Hands extend from the bottom of the image and present a pink card with embossed with pouring cups.

Help! How Should I Embark on an Unfamiliar Genre Journey?

In the second installment of our Tarot + Craft column, Sarah Elaine Smith gives advice to a writer who is considering exploring a new genre

Sarah Elaine Smith

May 25, 2021

Don’t Write Alone | Columns