Getting Past the Writing Plateau Nobody Talks About

by juliehartig | Aug, 2026 | Writing Life and Craft | Process, Practice and Making Stories

After four years of working on my manuscript, taking classes and courses, reading craft books, working with editors and critique groups, I’d hit a wall. My current (fantastic) critique group told me I knew how to write and understood story structure, but I could feel...

Restarting After a Break When Momentum Is Gone

by juliehartig | Dec, 2025 | Writing Life and Craft | Process, Practice and Making Stories

Edited January 2026. The original title was “How to Overcome Inertial And Restart After A Break” I was rolling along making significant progress on the first edit of Hope and Madness when we left for an extended vacation to Asia.  Determined to keep my...

Celebrating the Little Wins on My First Edit

by juliehartig | Oct, 2025 | Writing Life and Craft | Process, Practice and Making Stories

You can’t see me, but I’ve been doing a little celebration dance for the past week. (I’d add a meme, but they tend to interrupt the reading experience.) Why? Two reasons.  First, I’ve edited the first act of my novel Hope and Madness. This is...

My Wicked Good List of Universal Truths About Writing Fiction

by juliehartig | Jul, 2025 | Writing Life and Craft | Process, Practice and Making Stories

About the List of Universal Truths Many years ago, my husband and I started a family list of universal truths, or rules to live by. The first rule–if you roll a full house in Yahtzee, take it–came from my late father-in-law. Ignore the wisdom of these...

An Excellent Sample of My Authorial Voice

by juliehartig | Jun, 2025 | Writing Life and Craft | Process, Practice and Making Stories

During a recent critique group session, one member asked why I was concerned about improving my authorial voice, because “that’s never been a problem with your writing.”  “I think we differ on what is meant by authorial voice,” I responded.  When he pressed...

How To Use Authorial Voice To Find New Reads

by juliehartig | Apr, 2025 | Writing Life and Craft | Process, Practice and Making Stories

What is Authorial Voice? Understanding authorial voice in a relatable way has stumped me for quite a while. Too often, I ran into the glib explanation of ‘I know it when I see it.’ Below is a general explanation of authorial voice: Authorial voice refers to the unique...