2026 Get Started Right Writing Challenge: Day 4
Get your writing started right in 2026 with the Get Started Right Writing Challenge. The fourth day has writers read an article on writing.
Welcome to the fourth day of the 12-day 2026 Get Started Right Writing Challenge!
For today, read an article on writing; then, comment about something you learned and/or something you'd like to learn about writing, publishing, or anything else in 2026. The article doesn't have to be from this site, but we have quite a lot (with a few possibilities listed below under the categories of Craft of Writing, Business of Writing, and Author Spotlights), or just check out one of our 25 Most Popular Writing Posts of 2025.
Craft of Writing
- 5 Tips for Writing a Steamy STEM Romance, by Lia Riley.
- 5 Tips for Writing Psychological Thrillers, by Christina Kovac.
- Writing Humanity Worth Saving, by Brionni Nwosu.
- How Journalism Research Is Great Training for Novel Writing, by Marshall Fine.
- Poetry, Passion, and Physics, by Edward Nudelman.
- That Sparkling Moment: How to Turn a True Event Into a Compelling Story, by Corey Rosen.
Business of Writing
- All It Took to Get That Scene Published Was 23 Years, by Michael Kardos.
- Coping With Publishing Heartbreak: Brownie Bites and Bad Poetry, by R.L. Maizes.
- How I Found My Agent (Or, How My Agent Found Me), by Laura Bishop.
- Organizing Your Writing Side Hustle, by Paula Rizzo.
- Finding Success in Self-Publishing, by Leigh M. Hall.
Author Spotlights
- Coco Morante: Solve Problems for Yourself and Others.
- Farah Naz Rishi: On the Strange and Faintly Absurd Shape of Grief.
- Lydia Kang: Putting Energy Where It Counts More.
- Jayne Ann Krentz: Discover Your Core Story.
- Jon-Erik Lappano: Be Irrational in Your Persistence.
Read one (or more) of the above (or a completely different article), and share what you learned and/or would like to learn in 2026 in the comments.
Note on commenting: If you wish to comment on the site, go to Disqus to create a free new account, verify your account on this site below (one-time thing), and then comment away. It's free, easy, and the comments (for the most part) don't require manual approval. That said, I will be checking a couple times per day to approve the few that do get caught in the spam filters for whatever reason.
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Here's my comment:
Getting to read everything on this site every day is a joy and a privilege, and I feel like I'm constantly learning new things and novel approaches for a range of writing genres. But one of my recent epiphanies (actually while thinking of the love-hate list from yesterday) was how much I enjoy stories that are focused on strong relationships, whether they're romantic or relationships between friends (even if, and maybe especially if, they started off in conflict).
So in 2026, I'd like to learn more about writing relationships (as opposed to the normal pillars, which are very important, of plot, character, dialogue, setting, etc.). What I really want to learn is how to take characters and plot but write really deep and meaningful relationships. It's a goal anyway.
