No Failure, Only Practice

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#44: Goals, Not Resolutions: Setting Outcome and Process Goals for Writing
Plus some of my favorite books of 2023—and a few to look forward to in 2024.
Jan 1, 2024 • 
Matt Bell
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No Failure, Only Practice
No Failure, Only Practice
#44: Goals, Not Resolutions: Setting Outcome and Process Goals for Writing
59
#50: Write Better Fiction by Reading like a Book Reviewer
Hello friends!
May 2 • 
Matt Bell
105

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No Failure, Only Practice
No Failure, Only Practice
#50: Write Better Fiction by Reading like a Book Reviewer
13
#36: No Failure, Only Practice
Gordon Lish, Hilary Mantel, Bonnie Nadzam, Matthew Salesses, Jane Smiley, Melissa Febos, Montesquieu
Dec 1, 2022 • 
Matt Bell
83

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No Failure, Only Practice
No Failure, Only Practice
#36: No Failure, Only Practice
15
#42: Managing Difficulty in Fiction
Ben Marcus, Lance Olsen, Paul Kingsnorth, Eimear McBride, David Mitchell, Marlon James, Brian Evenson, Catherynne M. Valente, George Perec, Peter…
Aug 2, 2023 • 
Matt Bell
77

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No Failure, Only Practice
No Failure, Only Practice
#42: Managing Difficulty in Fiction
16
#43: Train Your Weaknesses, Write Your Strengths (What I Learned About Writing From Running, and Vice Versa)
Andy Jones-Wilkins, Paul Terranova, Meg LeFauve, Lorien McKenna, Nick Fuller Googins, my Uncle John
Sep 5, 2023 • 
Matt Bell
93

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No Failure, Only Practice
No Failure, Only Practice
#43: Train Your Weaknesses, Write Your Strengths (What I Learned About Writing From Running, and Vice Versa)
9
#48: Action, Dialogue, Image: Using Screenwriting as a Revision Tool for Fiction
Virginia Woolf, Jesse Eisenberg, Nicholson Baker.
Feb 18 • 
Matt Bell
62

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No Failure, Only Practice
No Failure, Only Practice
#48: Action, Dialogue, Image: Using Screenwriting as a Revision Tool for Fiction
3
#46: Reflection Creates Retention (My 2024 Year in Reading)
Happy holidays and Happy New Year!
Dec 29, 2024 • 
Matt Bell
62

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No Failure, Only Practice
No Failure, Only Practice
#46: Reflection Creates Retention (My 2024 Year in Reading)
9
#47: Introducing a Fictional Setting Through Movement and Attention
Scott Lynch, Rebecca Roanhorse, Colson Whitehead, J.R.R. Tolkien, Sofia Samatar, Erika Swyler
Jan 15 • 
Matt Bell
46

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No Failure, Only Practice
No Failure, Only Practice
#47: Introducing a Fictional Setting Through Movement and Attention
8
#52: How I Research a Novel, in the Stacks and in the World
Andrea Barrett, Allison Amend, Lauren Groff, Will Chancellor
Jun 11 • 
Matt Bell
52

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No Failure, Only Practice
#52: How I Research a Novel, in the Stacks and in the World
2
Exercise #14: Hunting Weasel Words
Alexander Chee, Garth Greenwell, Karin Tidbeck, Brandon Hobson, Wendell Mayo, Gabe Durham
Mar 1, 2021 • 
Matt Bell
44

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No Failure, Only Practice
Exercise #14: Hunting Weasel Words
4
#39: Enlivening Dialogue with Telling Action
Raymond Carver, Cormac McCarthy, Michael Keaton, Gene Hackman, Iron Man, Thor, Julia Armfield.
Mar 1, 2023 • 
Matt Bell
46

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No Failure, Only Practice
No Failure, Only Practice
#39: Enlivening Dialogue with Telling Action
13
#45: A Close Reading of the Surprising Omniscient POV in LOOT by Tania James
Tania James, plus a reading list of excellent contemporary fiction
Apr 8, 2024 • 
Matt Bell
34

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No Failure, Only Practice
No Failure, Only Practice
#45: A Close Reading of the Surprising Omniscient POV in LOOT by Tania James
7
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