Tabitha

“To make things that don’t exist yet—and don’t need to exist, because that is the very definition of art—and to send them out into the world is wildly, impractically, gorgeously hopeful.

“This is my way of saying there is no creativity without hope. Creativity is inherently hopeful, and the reverse is also true: Hope is inherently creative. Hope is

“Trust in the value of making things, not just in the value of the things you’ve made. Try to avoid being overly invested in the outcome. Let go of that as much as you can.

“Remember: You’re not for everyone. Your work isn’t for everyone. If you’ve made something no one would object to, it’s probably something no one will feel passionate about eithe

“One of the most pervasive myths about writing is that specificity is limiting. It’s just the opposite. You might think that a poem about love or truth or freedom—a large abstraction—would reach more people if it were written with universality in mind. But if your goal is to speak to everyone, and to remove particulars from the piece because others

“If one cannot make a living at writing, then writing is freed from the responsibility of supporting us. We choose to do it anyway.”

Dear Writer by Maggie Smith, pp. 5.

“Most importantly, don’t be afraid to talk about submitting! Publishing is the complicated, unwieldy, but essential system that determines readers’ ability to access our work. If we don’t talk about it, the big questions will haunt us, drawing a divide between the initiated and the uninitiated. Instead of keeping the path to publication a mysteriou

“I try to think of promotion as an extension of writing rather than as something that comes after the writing is finished. Readings, interviews, reviews, and interactions with readers are ways of continuing to revise the meaning of your writing, even after its publication. Try to retain the creative spirit that inspired your writing in the first pl

“Connecting with the right reader really does happen. When the right piece meets the right person, a light flicks on. We are all working hard to find a moment when the page suddenly illuminates. What can you do to give that moment to editors? How can you light up their day, their hour, with writing that feels as if it were written especially for th