Charlotte Lit’s Blog

Welcome to Charlotte Lit’s literary arts blog. What you’ll find here: reviews, interviews, craft essays, previews of literary arts events, and anything else that catches our attention.

Be Here Now

Part of Charlotte Lit’s “Keeping Pen to Paper” Series. If you were alive and awake during the 1970s or have practiced much yoga or meditation during the last two decades, you’ve probably heard the refrain Be Here Now, which also happens to be the title of a best-selling book by author and one-time Harvard University […]

Writing as Ritual

Part of Charlotte Lit’s “Keeping Pen to Paper” Series. Sometimes writers come to the page with an idea, a character, or an event in mind. But what if you sit down to write and your head is suddenly blank as your page? Poet CA Conrad has a helpful practice in using ritual to spark ideas […]

Future Self

Part of Charlotte Lit’s “Keeping Pen to Paper” Series. Right now, it is difficult to envision and plan for the future, something we would take for granted through most periods of our life. Therefore, I thought it might be a cathartic experience to imagine ourselves in an indefinite future (one year, ten years, fifty years […]

Show and Tell

Part of Charlotte Lit’s “Keeping Pen to Paper” Series. One of the great lies of writing instruction is “show don’t tell.” The truth is, you’ll need both. Here’s a quick primer, and an activity to help you to understand and use showing and telling. Showing is a catchier way of saying “in scene.” When we write […]