Welcome to Pairings

The Narrow View | iPhoneography by Jann Alexander © 2016 Behind the camera lens, you’ve got a choice. Your view can be narrow, focused...

Last week I read two books in two days. Yes, that required putting a halt to all activities beyond eating and feeding the dog. Even...

You’ve finished your epic novel and you’re querying agents. (You haven’t written an epic novel? No matter. Applying for a job? Same...

Lifesavers: Stable Relations Nubè and Clara   Anna Blake ©2015 Her heart had been broken , in many places, when she threw herself...

David Beheads Goliath, 1650  by Guillaume Courtois [ Public domain via Wikimedia Commons ] When you’re nearing the finish line with...

Ah, elixir of life: I Need Coffee by Jann Alexander ©2014 1. Bring your own coffee. There may be none. Even if there is, there will...

What You Need: An Author Platform by Jann Alexander ©2015 “Platform is a very helpful thing.”   — Karlyn Hixson, St. Martin’s Press  ...

Tangled Web by Jann Alexander ©2015 “Oh, what a tangled web we weave / When first we practise to deceive!” — Sir Walter Scott,  Marmion...

The thing I’ve discovered about writing a novel like A Habit of Hiding is that its presence is always with me. Even when I’m not writing...

Look closely at the logos on the writing machines chosen by famous men for decades. Why trust your precious words to anything other than...

1000 Voices Speak for compassion today, thanks to Yvonne Spence – Credit: #1000Speak Small acts of compassion can make a difference....

Click to Tweet This Your first novel will always be your favorite, because of your innocence when you wrote it, though it is unlikely to...

16 Dreaded Adverbs , According to the Hemingway Editor Adverbs are terribly out of favor , and I frankly cannot understand why. I...

Kerouac said it best.  ©2014 Jann Alexander Want a free download of this poster that you can print and frame?  Subscribe Here . Are you...

When to Stop Art by Jann Alexander ©2014 Hemingway was notoriously negligent with his drinking, his wives and in the end, his own life,...

Tell a lifelong news junkie  she can’t read the morning news? Anathema. Since high school, as newspaper editor, my wakeup routine was...

Setting by Jann Alexander © 2013 Paul O’Dwyer :“What are you writing?” Pete Hamill: “Nothing Paul, I think I have some kind of block.”...

Beautiful That Afternoon  Later, I painted what I missed while reading. ©2014 Jann Alexander I was lucky to never lose my first true...

Room with a View by Jann Alexander © 2014 Is is not every writer’s dream to have a room with a view? A room just for writing needs not...

“My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living.” ―  Anaïs Nin Anais Nin by Elsa Dorfman , c. 1970s Though she...