shopify analytics ecommerce tracking
Walsh and Bolton Twitter Unconference Advertise Facebook Book Zazzle Search

About Suzannah Windsor Freeman

Suzannah Windsor Freeman is a Canadian freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in The Writer, Sou'wester, Grist, Saw Palm, Anderbo, The Best of the Sand Hill Review, and others. She is the managing editor of Compose: A Journal of Simply Good Writing and Writeitsideways.com. She lives in Ontario with her husband and four children.

Recent Posts by this author:

  • Foolproof Strategies for Staying Creative During a Writing Slump
  • How to Get Your Short Stories Published in Lit Mags
  • “Do I Have Writing Talent?” You’re Asking the Wrong Question
  • Second Chances: Rewriting Our Stories
  • Change Your Mind. Try Something New. Write Something Better.
  • What Novelists Should Know About Short Fiction
  • 4 Options for Improving Your Fiction
  • 3 Fiction Tips from Stephanie Vaughn’s “Dog Heaven”
  • 8 Busy Moms Who Published Novels
  • 3 Tips for Riding the Rejection/Acceptance Roller Coaster
  • Getting Short Story Credits is Getting Easier (Sort Of)
  • The Aspiring Author’s Blog Isn’t Just About Platform

    • Foolproof Strategies for Staying Creative During a Writing Slump

    By

    CreativeSlumpWUFor the last two weeks, my four children and I have been stuck at home trying to extricate ourselves from the evil clutches of the dreaded “stomach flu.” One by one we came down with it, and its effects have been long-lasting and producing vast quantities of laundry. We are bored with television and lazing on couches. We are weary of toast.

    Thankfully, at this point in my life, I don’t hold down a typical nine-to-five career, which means I don’t have to take sick leave when we’re unwell. But as a writer and editor I still have commitments to keep up with, even if there’s flexibility in terms of timing.

    When life gets (literally) messy, I’m exhausted from sleepless nights and struggling to even manage the basics, I still try my best not to give in to the temptation to let everything go. It’s not about pushing through the pain and forcing myself to continue being productive; it’s about acknowledging that I feel worse if I don’t maintain at least some level of interest in my writing.

    For accomplishing that, I have a few strategies I’ve used over the years. I call them foolproof because you simply can’t mess them up. There’s no right or wrong. Even if they take you absolutely nowhere, they still help you maintain your creativity—with very little effort.

    Jot down keywords.

    My husband always says I have more notes—both handwritten and computerized—than anyone he’s ever met. True, but I also never run out of ideas. No matter how bad things are, if you can commit to writing just a few keywords for every creative idea that pops into your head, you’ll know those brilliant ideas will be waiting for you when you feel better. Use a notepad, a note app on your handheld device, or a virtual sticky note on your computer to record keywords for short stories, poems, articles, novels, revision ideas, and so on. For example, if your idea is to write a post like this one, you might write the keywords STRATEGIES CREATIVE SLUMP. Without going into any detail about how you’ll flesh it out, you’ve at least held on to it so you can develop it later. [Read more…]

    How to Get Your Short Stories Published in Lit Mags

    By

    Five years ago I would've said I was on my way to becoming a novelist. Today, my novels-in-progress have been shelved, but my short stories have been published in several lit mags and anthologies, and I even manage an online literary journal—Compose: A Journal of Simply Good Writing. There's just something about the short story form I've grown to love, and I do feel that this tangent from novels has made me a better writer. If short stories fell off your radar on your last day of high school … [Read more...]

    “Do I Have Writing Talent?” You’re Asking the Wrong Question

    By

    Hemingway. Austen. Dickens. Woolf. Carver. We know these names well, these masters of their craft. Were they born with an elusive writing gene the rest of us just don't have? We not-yet-famous writers sometimes ask ourselves, "Do I have talent?"—the implication being that talent is what makes one a real writer. We want some sort of assurance that—like "the greats"—we were born to write, or else we might just be fooling ourselves. But, coming to the conclusion that we either do or do not … [Read more...]

    Second Chances: Rewriting Our Stories

    By

    We all have stories. True stories, made-up stories, or ones that are a bit of both. Stories we've written down and stories we've lived. Stories that make us laugh, cry, or shudder. For writers, all of these stories are important in their own ways. The written-down ones are often just as much a part of who we are as the real-life ones. Today's real-life story goes something like this: I'm writing this post in my home office, surrounded by boxes upon boxes of stuff. Boxes of junk to be … [Read more...]

    Change Your Mind. Try Something New. Write Something Better.

    By

    Lately, something's been bothering me about the blog I've managed for more than four years: the person I was when I started the blog is not the person I am today. Or more precisely, the writer I was then is not the writer I am now. I've changed my mind on a lot of key issues. I've gained a lot more experience. I just feel...different. The blog is still useful for a particular audience, but it no longer feels authentic to where I am in my writing journey. Do I continue to invest time and … [Read more...]

    What Novelists Should Know About Short Fiction

    By

    When I first started writing seriously, all I wanted was to publish a novel. I thought my intentions were honourable—that I wasn't just another wannabe with dreams of making it big—but there was always that little part of me that still wasn't ready to put in my dues. I wanted it all, and I wanted it right away. Then, something life-changing happened. An opportunity fell into my lap. I was asked by the publisher of a print magazine (who had been following my blog) if I would consider … [Read more...]

    4 Options for Improving Your Fiction

    By

    We writers can be impatient—not only with the process of writing and getting published, but with ourselves for not being perfect from the get-go. We readily accept the need for intensive training and ongoing skills development for our day jobs, but when it comes to writing, we often expect to just be able to 'do it'. I used to be a teacher. I spent four years completing degrees in English and education, then took three more professional development courses to expand my qualifications. Once … [Read more...]

    3 Fiction Tips from Stephanie Vaughn’s “Dog Heaven”

    By

    Every so often, I discover a piece of writing I just can't wait to share with others. The short story "Dog Heaven," by Stephanie Vaughn, is one of them. I initially found the story on the New Yorker fiction podcast, and later bought Sweet Talk—Vaughn's collection in which the story appears. "Dog Heaven" is narrated by Gemma, who is recalling a formative portion of her childhood on an army base in Fort Niagara, where her father is in charge of the missile batteries. The story follows … [Read more...]

    8 Busy Moms Who Published Novels

    By

    By all accounts, I'm a busy mom. I gave up my teaching career a couple of years ago so I could stay home with my children---one school-aged, and one who has just turned two. Soon, I'll no longer be a mom of two, but a mom of four. We're expecting a set of twins in early March, which means I'm as big as a house and every inch of my body hurts. But, just because I'm 'staying-at-home' doesn't mean I don't work. In addition to all my normal mommy duties, I run a blog and regularly write for … [Read more...]

    3 Tips for Riding the Rejection/Acceptance Roller Coaster

    By

    The writing life is one never-ending roller coaster ride of rejections and acceptances, of form rejections and personal rejections, of thoughtful feedback and hurtful criticism. One day, you're down in the dumps. The next you're on top of the world, and nothing can come between you and your victory. Until the next dip in the ride. Ever since I got back into writing short stories and submitting them to literary magazines, I've personally experienced the ups and downs of the writing life. … [Read more...]

    Getting Short Story Credits is Getting Easier (Sort Of)

    By

    When Writer Unboxed held their unpublished novelist search back in April '10, the first post I submitted for consideration was called, "Do You Need Minor Writing Credits to Publish Your Novel?" Back when I started writing my novel, I had a number of concerns about spending my time trying to get some minor writing credits: Short stories are different to novels. What I really wanted to write was my novel, and seeing how the process of writing a novel and the process of writing a short story … [Read more...]

    The Aspiring Author’s Blog Isn’t Just About Platform

    By

    Some of us aspiring authors hear the word 'blog' and automatically think about platform-building. Jane Friedman offers some excellent advice on platform-building in her post, Audience Development: Critical to Every Writer's Future: Mediocre writers with sales & marketing savvy are more likely to succeed in commercial publishing than talented writers without sales & marketing skill. [...] Even while producing your first manuscript, you need to find ways to meaningfully interact … [Read more...]