Maxine Thompson

I had not seen snow in 21 years, that is, until I recently rode through a snowstorm in Cheyenne, Wyoming mountains. Nor did I clearly remember how the leaves change in autumn on the east coast, and how they resemble flames leaping towards the sky in...

Life is said to evolve in three stages. Creation, survival and destruction. Similar to the life cycle of birth, life, death, and resurrection, these cycles should be reflected in your writing.In the first part of a story, a character may be creating...

When I was sixteen, during the Civil Rights era, as part of a one-way student exchange program (from the inner city of Detroit to suburban Traverse City, Michigan), I lived with a white family. This was part of an integration initiative.

It is often said that if they had to choose, many novelists would prefer to have the developmental (or content) editing completed on their manuscripts versus the copy editing. Why? Because if the story is good, people will overlook a missing comma.

Through research you can find topics, subjects and ‘seeds’ for stories. Pick five different topics that interest you, and research them on the Internet, or through your local library.

This placard graced my late mother’s bedroom wall, and until recently, I didn’t understand what it meant.After spending a normal vacation with my loved ones in Atlanta and Detroit, I reflected how wonderful it is to enjoy adult children...