Hi! I'm E.M. Welsh, and between 2016–2018 I used this blog to teach writers how to learn to tell stories in different mediums and develop a creative lifestyle.

Now, I’m pursuing my own creative work and sharing my thoughts, ramblings, and other ideas along the way. You can still access all my old posts + freebies in the blog.

I’m currently working on my first collection of short stories a novella, which I hope to publish in the coming years. In the meantime, I’ve also published The Maximalist Essays on Substack. You can check in to my latest work in my portfolio.

Happy 31, Diego! I’ll keep the corniness to your bday card, but I’m so happy to call you my “husband.” When I was a younger version of myself imagining what love might look like, there was always an outline of someone just lik
Ornament pledge class of 2022! We had such a big year this year and I could have bought ornaments for so many different themes (and who is to say I’m done shopping?). Here’s a little about what I collected this year. Yarn - For my new h
The project I’m most proud of to date. I learned so many new skills with this ornament: new stitches, cording, finishing, and even a little bit of stump work embroidery with the berries. I love being a beginner at things and the sense of achiev
A beautiful past few days in Antigua and my last stamp on this passport before I renew and we have to get a baby passport with it! I maxed out my 200mg caffeine limit on Guatemalan coffee, collected some beautiful new textiles, and best of all got to

Musings

Blog
On making something I can never outmake

It's weird, nothing has made me feel more myself lately than pregnancy. I feel this renewed energy just before his birth to create something wonderful, to create many things. Perhaps it's because as I sit here, I'm in the very act of creation. I feel a pull to renew my website, to fill it with interests, pursuits, life lately. But I also want to write my novel again, to embroider beautiful tapestries, to decorate a tray of goods and set a nice table. To make, to make, to make.

1.23.23 Monday musings

To speak frankly, I’ve been wondering where to put this blog and website for many, many years. It’s preserved all over the entire enterprise. I say I want to be a writer, dabble back in it like I should, and then…nothing. I try not to beat myself up too much about this. Life has its ebbs and flows, and I know that when I am called back to writing my novels and stories the time will be right. I’ve felt exceedingly creative lately though, just not via words. In some ways it bothers me, but in others, I’m solely curious.

7.24.22

Sometimes I can feel something good and worth saying pressing upon my skull. It doesn’t require any effort, it’s just a passing thought admiring a little cut of life. And when it passes I feel a fog of calm set over me that can only be described as who I’m supposed to be.

My first cross stitch project

For my first cross stitch projects, I bought two kits. One is an American flag ornament, which I got as a gift to make for my father in-law. The other is more “me” but also not so beautiful that I’d be sad if I messed it up. Basically cute enough to not be an eye sore but not so pretty I’d feel discouraged. Both are objectively low quality, but I felt it wasn’t worth dropping cash just yet before I was certain I enjoyed the hobby.

What I baked for Christmas

I’ve always wanted to do Christmas cookie boxes, but it wasn’t until last year (2020) that I finally started doing it! It’s a surprising expense and finding the cute supplies for everything is tricky. Last year I definitely did a better job of wrapping everything up—and actually shipping the boxes out. This year, due to our new oven I had complications (more on that later) which made shipping boxes out on time impossible, I only ended up hand delivering mine. But I hope next year to get back to shipping these out! 

December 1st thoughts

I think that this blog is supposed to be about creative writing, and that’s what it was for. But life evolves and so does my corner of the internet, and now I just feel inclined to turn it into a diary or a log. I think that if I throw in enough adjectives and nice-sounding turns of phrases, I can get away with still calling it a creative writing blog, no? (I hope that if you’re coming here looking for my writing advice you still find what you seek! It’s here. Just not in this post.)

Short story diaries: Vol 3. On reviewing my own work and ideas

Last time I wrote about my short story collection, Austin was in the midst of an ice storm that would power down our terrain for a full week. It was shocking and disorienting, despite my own personal safety. And yet it threw me off the path of my own pursuits, and then of course the business of planning a wedding now does too.

My love of family novels

Do you ever read a book that then gets you so excited about the prospect of writing your own book one day that you have to set this bound object down, admire its spine, and curb the fluttering of your heart?

That’s how I feel whenever I read an epic piece of literature. And by that I mean, a large novel, one that requires absolute patience and perseverance. It doesn’t hook you in right away. In fact, it may move too slowly for your taste, and it does so on purpose. But then one day, you’re absorbed by the context only a massive book can grant.

 

Looking for writing advice, tips, and free resources?

All old articles on writing and storytelling (2016–2018) are still available in the Archive tab at the top of this blog. I don’t update this content anymore, but you can search by category using that tab. If you want to access the freebies I mention throughout, click the button below. No need to fill out any email contact forms!