It's that time of year, we're heading into December. (How did this happen? Was there a time vortex? What the hell happened to my October?) There's a lot to celebrate, some people are coming off a NaNo high, some are gearing up for holiday parties and cookie exchanges. Some keeners will already be...

READ MORE

Anyone else enjoy cranking up the music when they're home alone and busting out their best moves? What Eileen calls dancing looks a lot like Donna having a seizure 😳— but there's no doubt music can move us. There's a reason that movies have a soundtrack in the background — it adds to the emotion...

READ MORE

Canada had its Thanksgiving in October and for peeps in the US it's coming up next week. As an official dual citizen, Eileen celebrates both because she has a lot to be thankful for... and pie. Oh, and stuffing. How she loves her stuffing. Writing can be hard, which is why it can be good to...

READ MORE

Writing and publishing is amazing, but it's also hard. And you have demands on your time. Here's the thing — you're going to need help. That might mean trading pages with another writer for feedback, paying for an editor, getting cover design tips from a professional, trading babysitting with...

READ MORE

We're here to talk about clean spaces today. People debate about if you need a clean office to get writing done or if some amount of clutter is actually helpful. We can't help resolve that debate but we do have tips about another kind of clutter that is never helpful: Negative thoughts. All...

READ MORE

Call us psychic! We are willing to bet that you've got stacks of books in your house because most writers are also passionate readers. It's that love of books that inspires us. We've read books that have made us laugh, and cry, and imagine new worlds, and even fall in love. (It is a well-known...

READ MORE

This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it's done. It’s that easy, and that hard.  ~ Neil Gaiman The countdown is on for NaNoWriMo! For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, an online challenge to write...

READ MORE

With conference season comes the opportunity to pitch your manuscript to editors and agents. And of course, any season is the right one to send an email query. But it can be scary to put yourself and your work out there, so here at the Creative Academy we've been doing some practice pitching...

READ MORE

A lot of people have been going through challenging times lately. Hurricanes, politics, health, and personal issues. Around the Academy we've been chatting a bit about how it can be hard to focus and be creative when things around us seem challenging. So, how do you do it? One way to meet the...

READ MORE

Fall always seems to be the start of the conference season. We're going to admit we love a great writing event. It's a chance to connect with our peers, learn new skills, and understand what's happening in our ever-changing industry. Depending on how introverted you are (anyone else ever want to...

READ MORE