Millions of Suns: On Writing and Life

Millions of Suns is an open invitation for all writers to create something new. Each chapter features a pair of essays-in-dialogue between two working artists, Sharon Fagan McDermott and M. C. Benner Dixon, which addresses a specific writing element such as metaphor, inspiration, place, surprise, or imagery. These hybrid essays reveal how two very different writers approach the building blocks of their craft. Explore how white space intersects with grief, how the act of reading changes over a lifetime, or how "familiarity, in life and in stories, invites us in and gives us a hand to hold." Witness the ways that race and climate change find their way onto the page. Learn how memory can be an act of betrayal or healing.

With decades of combined teaching experience, McDermott and Benner Dixon share practical craft-of-writing advice with the reader, including over fifty engaging writing prompts to spark the creative process. These prompts guide readers toward the freedom and joy that comes with finding one's authentic voice. Embracing both the painful and the playful, Millions of Suns is an ideal text for classrooms, professional development, or daily writing practice. Through humor, lyricism, and poignancy, the fundamental message of the book remains the same for newcomers and career authors, whether they write poetry, fiction, non-fiction, or memoir. Let Millions of Suns open a door for you into your creative work, inviting imagination, memory, and inspiration into your writing life.