With a little help from my (writer) friends

Over the years, my creative writing students and I have often chatted about our writing lives, frequently asking ourselves why we spend so much of our time in imaginary worlds when there’s a real world out there.

I guess it’s because most of us can’t help it. All those stories buzzing around inside our heads give us no peace. They demand to be told.

As a member of several online writing groups, and a journalist who has profiled dozens if not hundreds of authors for this magazine, I come across the issues that plague creative writers, even the