Steve’s Blog
Writing is a powerful tool to greater self-understanding, but it’s a lot more than that: It’s a way of life. In founding the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods in 2013, Steve and Sarah were drawn to the challenge of taking the inspiring calm and natural beauty of their little swath of land at the end of Amigo Road and sharing that with visitors to help them energize their lives. The hope was that others could leave feeling a little closer to nature – and to themselves – and carry that feeling forward. In his regular blog, Steve explores the mysteries of writing, and of inspiring other writers, and he also delves into the delicate balance required to think less and feel more, to be excited by life but not let stress or time sickness poison our sense of the moment. Steve’s Blog is an effort to start a dialogue, one we hope you’ll take part in regularly.
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Steve’s Writing Blog: Comparing Teddy Roosevelt and Trump
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. ― Teddy RooseveltRead More
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Steve’s Weekly Blog: Happy Birthday, Lawrence, Still Writing at 100
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. ― Maya AngelouRead More
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Steve’s Blog: The Writer as Murderer
If you here require a practical rule of me, I will present you with this: "Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings. Arthur Quiller-Couch, "On the Art of Writing," 1914 One of the problems with great writing advice is it quickly settles and hardens, losing the supple, dynamic quality that gave it power. I have in mind especially the line…Read More
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Steve’s Blog: What Writers Forget
People forget what they want to forget. ―Fuyumi Soryo Writers, being obsessive people, work hard to avoid forgetting something important - like, say, proofreading the first sentence of a submission again to avoid a hideous typo - and yet, we all know the pain of hitting send and immediately realizing we've forgotten something important. A friend recently sent me an article from Vice that opened with this line: "In 2013, Carolyn Ford* began to use…Read More
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What’s It Like as a WCR Resident Intern? An Interview With Chelo Manchego
Our larger project at the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods of working with writers in a variety of ways, from weeklong writing residencies to Author Talk events to publishing through our Wellstone Books imprint, depends on the work of our amazing resident interns, who come to live with us for three months at a time and spend their mornings doing physical work, mostly outside, and their afternoons writing or talking about writing. What is the…Read More