by Amelia Loken | Sep 11, 2026 | Writing Craft
For my first five years as a writer, I focused almost entirely on mastering the craft of prose. After joining SCBWI, I was invited into a critique group made up of an eclectic mix of picture book creators, middle grade authors, and YA novelists. The mentors in that...
by Amelia Loken | Sep 7, 2026 | Writing
A month without a laptop wasn’t part of my writing productivity plan. Like most writers, I rely on a carefully built routine. I believe in sustainable productivity, steady progress, and protecting creative energy from the burnout that comes with constant hustle....
by Amelia Loken | Sep 4, 2026 | Writing Craft
I read Stephen King’s On Writing early in my writing journey. At the time, I was voraciously searching for writing craft books that might help me understand how stories worked and how writers actually learned their craft. The funny thing is that I had never read...
by Amelia Loken | Aug 29, 2026 | Writing Craft
Learning the Language of Story When I first read Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder, I was about a year or two into writing my first novel. Like many aspiring writers, I had spent most of my life consuming stories without fully understanding how they worked. I didn’t...
