Everything I know about being myself and achieving my goals, I learned from the motivational posters lining the chalk-scented walls of my elementary school classrooms. “Reach for the stars!” exclaimed a startled-looking cat riding a saucer through ou…

We all remember the first time we said it, teenage heart aflutter, gazing into our partner’s eyes with breathless uncertainty as we uttered the three little words that forever change a relationship: “Let’s break up.” Those were simpler times. Now tha…

Like any '90s kid growing up in the burbs, I approached trick-or-treating with the same reverence a seasoned runner would an impending marathon. The keys to maximum candy intake involved acquiring the largest bucket or pillowcase one could get her gr…

Is it just me, or does the autumn air get you craving homemade pie? No, in delicious news, It's not just me, actually. Truly, though, especially as the leaves are turning, it seems as though we can’t get enough of the delicious dessert in the good ol…

“Two fictional female book characters walk into a cocktail bar. The protagonist turns to the antagonist and says…” Don't worry! This isn't the beginning of a hackneyed literary joke, but instead the introduction to the age old question: “What’s your …

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." Joe Fox was onto something when he typed those words to his online mystery woman in…

Audrey Hepburn was onto something when she mused, “Everything I learned I learned from the movies.” Take note, aspiring writers: While you toil away, waiting for your work to morph into the next number-one New York Times bestseller, there are a few t…

J.R.R. Tolkien once said, “Not all those who wander are lost, they simply need get with the program and download the Uber App.” Okay, the second part of that quote is 100 percent fabricated, and it’s hard to picture Tolkien glued to a smartphone like…

Maybe you’re searching for the meaning of life, or maybe you’re just trying to describe a great breakfast you ate off a street cart in Phnom Penh. Whatever the case, any ambitious nonfiction writer knows that this broad (and increasingly popular) gen…

Back in 1939, Austrian writer Ludwig Bemelmans penned a story about a feisty, redheaded girl who spends her days in an old boarding school in Paris. Perhaps you've heard of Madeline? Madeline was a simple tale, accompanied by the writer’s own whimsic…

Sure, champagne seemed like a great idea last night. It was a special occasion, right? After all, you are 14th in line to the throne of Monaco, and it is your royal duty to attend many galas. Or, perhaps it was just a Wednesday night in New York City…

If you haven’t fallen down the Inside Amy Schumer rabbit hole yet, it's time to step back and take a good, hard look at the choices you've made thus far in your adult years. You're not a child anymore. It's time to take hold of your life, put down th…

I remember my first day back at home after graduating college... mainly because I spent it laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, terrified of not knowing what was to come next. I felt like a giant baby that suddenly needed her parents to look aft…

It's no secret by this point that Tina Fey is a brilliant comedy writer (hello, Kimmy Schmidt !). Since making waves as Saturday Night Live 's first female head writer in 1999, Fey has continued to outdo herself in an astoundingly prolific career. I …

You may think of Earth Day as that holiday you commemorated in grammar school by fashioning together some tree-themed arts and crafts, but since then, regarded with only a passing interest, or admittedly ignored completely. Perhaps it's time to chang…

Has any American city captured the hearts of writers quite the way New York has? Sometimes for better, other times for worse, the Big Apple is often as integral within a story as the characters themselves. Immersing oneself in a New York City book se…

We've all experienced it, some of us only once, and some of us a small handful of times: That one novel that grips your imagination so tightly that it becomes the oxygen on which you subsist until you reach the dreaded final page. And then, as sudden…

"I love her more than a shark loves blood." Sound familiar? Anyone currently in the throes of binge-watching House of Cards would likely agree with Frank Underwood (or shall I say, Mr. President) when he murmurs these words in praise of his wife. Th…

Unless you've been blessed with a fairy godmother (or a trust fund), chances are you're slogging away at some sort of day job to make ends meet while crafting that grand novel, script, or poetry collection. Pulling a double shift with work and writin…

Old Man Winter, how I love and hate thee. My winter Burn Book could rival Ulysses in length, with its laundry list of those things I despise most about the season: Gusts of wind cold enough to knock the air out of me, pulling back muscles I didn't ev…