Nan Oh Rhyme Oh

It’s that time of year, again. The fall leaves changing, the air is getting colder (I think I covered most of this in my last post). But most of all, we’re quickly approaching November. And that means: NaNoWriMo. For those unfamiliar, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. The time of year where thousands of people […]

‘Write what you know’ will always be excellent advice for those who ought not to write at all. Write what you think, what you imagine, what you suspect. That is the only way out of the dead end of the Serious Novel which so many ambitious people want to write and no one on earth […]

Why did I just decide to change the gender of my main character halfway through chapter 8? Does it possibly have something to do with the female empowerment article I read earlier today? At least my son was cool with it. And it actually works to enhance the main point of conflict in interesting ways. […]

Terribly good advice from the terrible mind of Chuck Wendig

If you have a notion to be a writer and you’re not reading Chuck Wendig’s blog, TERRIBLE MINDS, you are completely missing out on some excellent free advice on storytelling, story construction, audience manipulation, and general writerly need-to-know’s.Case in point: today’s post on 25 things you should know about creating mystery. Genius stuff, friends. Hilarious, […]

I tell aspiring writers that they should write. It’s the only real advice I have. If you think you have talent, then write. You’ll find out if you’re any good. And you’ll also find out that it takes a lot more than just talent to be a writer. You have to be willing to write […]

Writing out chapter three of my novel longhand. Which is not ideal, because A) my handwriting is terrible, and B) my hand cramps up something fierce after only a few minutes of writing. But it’s marginally better than writing on my computer, which usually consists of roughly 2% writing, and 98% surfing Facebook and Tumblr. […]