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Caren Gussoff Sumption
Caren Gussoff Sumption

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Getting myself found

Please note: I made some decisions and drew some parameters in this personal essay. The generally and stylistically preferred terms/constructions are Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and person-first language,. In this essay, I use “ASD” and “autism,” and “people with autism” and “autistic people” interchangeably. I also lean on the crappy…

Autism

10 min read

Getting myself found
Getting myself found

Published in The Writing Cooperative

·Apr 17

How To Give a Killer Reading

Being an engaging reader isn’t difficult — if you prepare for success — I’m not a natural reader. I’m definitely a shameless goof, and a sometime theater kid — and, after my first publication, thought my innate audaciousness and light stage training would translate into being a good, if not great, reader of my own work. Spoiler: it didn’t. I choked and squeaked…

Writing

5 min read

How To Give a Killer Reading
How To Give a Killer Reading

Apr 1

The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 7)

If there’s a million dollar writing question, it’s this (understanding of course, there are some 2 million dollar questions, usually on getting an agent/publication): Should writers write every day? Read ten writing books. No, ask ten writers. Take a poll on Twitter. Doesn’t matter. You’ll get predictably conflicting answers to…

Writing

4 min read

The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 7)
The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 7)

Mar 28

The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 6)

As I’ve worked, on and off, on this series, I’ve tried to consolidate the questions and blind spots I see (and have personally encountered) on creating — and thriving — in a writing career. I get asked, and see others asked, what the single best piece of advice they can…

Writing Tips

5 min read

The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 6)
The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 6)

Feb 18

I did an Ignite talk, and you should, too

Last night, I did something difficult: I stood up, in front of ~100*-ish people (author’s edit on 2/22/22: I have been told by organizers there were at least 240! people in the audience) — and a bunch silently watching on a livestream) — in one of my city’s most respectable…

Ignite

4 min read

I did an Ignite talk, and you should, too
I did an Ignite talk, and you should, too

Feb 10

Happy birthdays to me: reflecting on 1 year with Autism

Mid-February, I turn 49. I feel a lot of ways about that. But, also, I feel like I’m a child. A small one. A toddler. In the best of all possible ways. A toddler turning 1. So, I’m about to be 49, but also a 1 year old. At least…

Autism

5 min read

Happy birthdays to me: reflections on 1 year with Autism
Happy birthdays to me: reflections on 1 year with Autism

Apr 20, 2021

The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 5)

A few days ago, Lauren Hough blew up a certain segment of Twitter. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go ahead and look*. I’ll wait here. Caught up? * or TLDR: Hough’s essay collection came out — by all accounts, an excellent book, except on Goodreads, where a…

Writing

3 min read

The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 5)
The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 5)

Jan 28, 2021

The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 4)

Writing programs. MFAs*. Workshops. Classes. Paid mentoring. If you want to write, or already, hopefully do, there are a million ways to spend your time and money on instruction. But should you do it? A binary answer is…imprecise. I say: yes, but. I also say: no, and. You’ll see what…

Writing

7 min read

The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 4)
The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 4)

Dec 30, 2020

The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 3)

I cannot write my novel. Not can’t write. I’m physically capable of the act of writing. I mean, I wrote this. Not don’t wanna write. I wanna. I wanna hard. And, even if I didn’t wanna, that would not be the issue. I’ve done this long enough to know inspiration…

Writing Life

3 min read

The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 3)
The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 3)

Dec 14, 2020

The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 2)

A few years ago, I wrote a blog post for the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) on professional envy. I made two embarrassing errors: ~ I called it jealousy, when I should have called it envy. Jealousy is when you fear someone covets what you already have. Envy…

Writing

6 min read

The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 2)
The open book: what writers don’t tell writers about writing (part 2)
Caren Gussoff Sumption

Caren Gussoff Sumption

Writer, dabbler, bon vivant. Nerdy words for nerdy people.

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