April Glimmers

and other things that have improved my (writing) life this month

Anna Rollins

Apr 15, 2025

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Mid-month, I send a roundup of the best writing and publishing-adjacent (emphasis on adjacent) resources I’ve found.

Here are my favorites from 🌷April 🌷

🌷This is for dinner, and this is for breakfast. Both are easy, and I highly recommend.

🌷

Amy Suto

’s curated list of freelance opportunities are always excellent, and her advice about what is hurting your writing life is gold.

🌷 I participated in this challenge several years ago, and I learned how to use the “once upon a time” story structure to develop plot. My son and I have been practicing with the structure (at bedtime) by making up narratives about our (recently deceased) dogs. Is that too macabre? I think it’s helping us both heal.

🌷 Speaking of writing and kids, I dream of writing a children’s book someday (I’ve been doing market “research” while going to the library with my kids). I’ve also been consulting

Heidi Fiedler

’s excellent Making Magic workbook to learn more.

🌷 This audiobook has become an almost-sacred text for me.

🌷 I keep thinking about this, and

Courtney Maum

’s astute argument that “if you’re teaching someone how to write a beautiful sentence but not how to make a living, you’re setting them up for failure … it might be crass, but conversations should start from the socioeconomics of it and stem out from there.”

And speaking of making a living — I found out that I will receive business mentorship about building a writing portfolio career, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about it.

🌷 I talk about using an emotionally charged photo as a prompt for writing a New York Times Tiny Love Story here. My first published Tiny Love Story was set at a sunflower field.

And recently, I went back to that same field with my children — except this time, there were tulips.