Tasha Seegmiller

The other day, I had a writerly existential crisis. One of the greatest benefits of being an MFA candidate is the opportunity I have to work closely with incredible professionals who help me hone my craft. While there are agents who advise on stories a bit, and editors who help writers make their stories better, possibly even critique partners and beta readers, the chance to have someone who is literally paid to help me make my writing better is not something that is likely to appear again. The reality of spending time, I mean really spending time looking at writing, thinking about writing, analyzing books, sitting in a room where…

When I was still on Facebook, I was in A LOT of Facebook writing groups. I suspect I’m not alone in this. It’s actually one of my favorite things about social media (and the only reason, truly, I’ve thought about going back to Facebook).  One of the perks of being in so many groups is I got to see what people are wondering about. And the things that showed up a lot then are still present in writing conversations I have in other areas now, including questions like:  I get it. And I’m guessing if you are reading this, you have wondered or asked the same things before as well. You might…

Have you ever had the chance to sneak away for a writing retreat? Have you had the chance to experience the synergistic feeling of creating while in close proximity to other creators? One of the best perks is that when temptation shows up, to jump on the socials or play a game on the phone “while you figure out what’s going on in the story”, a quick glance around the place silently peer pressures you back to doing what you went there to do – write. One of the greatest perks of NaNoWriMo is that it creates a sort of collective, online recreation of a writing retreat. Logging on to…

If you have been on social media at all, you’ve likely seen people celebrating their advancement to the next step of writing whether finishing a manuscript or getting a full request, signing with an agent, an editor (a TV producer!) or the joy of a release date. While they can be fun and inspiring, if you aren’t quite where you wanted to be, it can be frustrating. Demoralizing. Self-doubt inducing. Somehow, I don’t think this is a just me situation. So, as you are looking beyond the holiday season, however you celebrate, I would like to encourage you to block out some time away from loved ones, some time when…

I don’t know how many times I’ve watched Elizabeth Gilbert’s first TED talk. I know it has been at least once a year for the past dozen or so, but there were some years that I needed to watch is more often. It is easily my favorite. Despite all this, I have still struggled with my identity as a writer, with my belief that I’m competent in this craft I have chosen to pursue. The failure of a manuscript to find a publishing home has all too often equated to a failure of me, of identifying myself and my work as one in the same. If a critique group didn’t go…

I think a lot of people may look back at 2016 as a year of unpredictable changes, and it was definitely the case for me. Some of the notable events of 2016 in my personal life included: Those are a lot of big life things and don’t include the crazy life events that 2016 delivered to people close to me. It was enough of a disruption that at times I felt a bit like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, being flipped here and there without any ability to get a solid footing in my life. It was in the middle of all those events that I came across Essentialism by Greg McKeown. It…

Last week, I went with my oldest to meet with a school counselor and to select the classes they would take during their junior year of high school. When we were called back, we both stood, and then they stopped to let me go in front of them without a look or prompt from me. They gave me a hug when the appointment was over, with their arms wrapping around my neck with ease (and as I’m six feet tall, that’s saying something). They have just finished their driver’s ed course, and may be looking at a possible prom date this year, and it has made my internal time teller…

We all have things about us that we don’t notice in ourselves – a bluntness that is not perceived with the honest intention we might have intended, a funny story we thought we were sharing in a spirit of light-heartedness but that caused a loved one embarrassment, the ability to focus and complete a project ahead of a deadline at the risk of dismissing the ones we love too easily. These nuances of us are the kinds of things we need to work into our characters for them to come across as real people. I have a couple of tips for how to work these blind spots into character development. Be…

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to join my critique group in a discussion at our local library. At the end, we were asked if we had one final piece of advice. I had the fortune of going last (aka more time to think) and came up with this: Open Your Eyes I’ve been an avid reader my whole life. But there was something strange that was happening when I first started writing: the voice of my adult characters was off. Pacing was off. Development was off. It took me a long time to realize the problem, but it ended up being I was reading lots and…

We are coming up on the time when lots of writers are going to tuck away their introverted tendencies and venture into the world of conferences. There are several things that need to be considered when gearing up for a conference, but amid the anticipation and excitement, being a little mindful first can heighten your opinion of success. If this is the first year you will be attending a conference, it can be really tempting to go to the places with the names that you have heard of before. Sure, the enticement to sit in the same room as a person you’ve loved for a long time can be real and…