Tasha Seegmiller

As I write this post, I’m sitting in a London airport. This is my first time coming to this city, to England in general, and, of course, I spent the last few weeks with excitement building on excitement as the time for the trip got closer. My husband and I had a long layover and decided to use it to get a taste of London. But here’s the thing that surprised me: London didn’t. Yes, I’ve seen movies that take place here, am familiar with the same signature tourist sites that everyone also is, and I plan to hit many of them next week. But as we were passing by…

I just finished reading The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. It’s a book that I’d been meaning to get to for a while but got a nudge from someone who is helping me chat through some goals and read it over the weekend. It’s one of those tricky books because it’s a quick read, and it’s a slow read, the latter because it has what I like to call staring at the wall parts, where something resonates and needs attention and time before we can really reach understanding. One of the parts that stood out to me, that I didn’t expect to stand out to me, was about the Resistance and…

Once upon a time, I thought that publishing was a thing where you learn your craft really well, do the work, and then navigate the query trenches. Once upon a time, I thought that once someone got an agent, the two of them would work together to make the manuscript better and then have conversations about how to submit manuscripts. Once upon a time, I thought if an editor liked a book, it was like an agent liking a book, wherein they worked out the details of the contract and then proceeded to make the book better until it was publication-ready. I have since learned that all this is as likely…

There are a lot of people out there who believe writing is a solitary affair. And to some extent, they are right. When I was in my final MFA semester, there were many times when people asked how they could help and my answer was always they couldn’t. I had to do the reading. I had to do the writing. The drafting and outlining and brainstorming and editing and revising? That was all on me. But there is no way that I write a book on my own. Not even close. No one does. All you have to do is flip to the acknowledgments section of a book to realize that the…

by Tasha Seegmiller My MFA thesis tells the story of a woman, her children, her faith, her marriage, and a little bit about how easy it is for modern women to get lost in the tumult of obligation. It explores how dreams and ambitions can be both independent of a woman’s roles in life, and yet undeniably intertwined with those roles. There are many kinds of relationships that are tricky ones, particularly when they are relationships where partners can both love and hate equally, simultaneously, and then defend one another with unwavering conviction. The complication of relationships, as near as I can tell, comes down to how the characters love…

This post was written at the end of 2020, and while I hope we NEVER have a year like that again, I think this act of reflection is important. Most years, there are people who are offering suggestions on how to reflect on what was accomplished, and how to plan for a “better” year ahead. I have been one of those people. Seriously, the resolutions I used to set were ri-dic-u-lous. But I’ve been doing a lot of work this year, on myself, on my valued relationships, on identifying when someone is trying to get something from me versus working toward something with me. And while I am not the first person to talk…

There is a tricky situation that occurs in the lives of writers. To people who are not engaged in some kind of similar creative pursuit, explaining a difficult day can be met with expressions of disbelief. “You mean sitting in your seat and typing words was hard? Exhausting? Really?” These people may also not understand why the words of others can hurt, whether that hurt was intentional or not. It can be anything from a bad review to a critique from a well-meaning colleague or beta reader that can make us doubt, stall, quit. I’ve been on a bit of a Brené Brown kick lately. [Full disclosure: I gave away…

I just finished my MFA at Pacific University. I had several reasons I went to get this expensive graduate degree, one of which is obvious – I wanted to dedicate time to my writing. I wanted to get better.  But it was expensive. Really expensive.  And that is a significant reason why many people don’t seriously consider MFA programs.  While I would never presume to state that that experience can be replicated in whole outside of the dedication that comes from a financial commitment, there are some key things I learned that I will bring into practice throughout my writing career.  1. Read Well & Critically If you have any desire…

I was recently in an online discussion concerning a new presenter in the MasterClass series. There were several people who were excited about the new presenter but wondered if the curriculum they would have access to would be too fundamental for their current level. It’s a valid question, in particular when it comes to a class that will require a $90.00 commitment. At about the same time, I attended a training where a psychology professor talked about progression, improvement, and learning. He discussed three areas that have to work in harmony with each other for learning to really have an impact: cognitive, behavioral, and affective. While I could try and explain what…