How Choice Creates Compelling Fiction
Photo by Pixource on Pixabay Think fast. What’s the secret to a fantastic novel? It’s not mastering the story arc (because naturally, you want your book to read EXACTLY like every other book sold). It’s...
Why “Qualified” Is a Horrible Way to Describe a Writer
Image created by Wanda Thibodeaux on Canva You know the idea. Write what you know. That will let the words flow onto the page faster and with a flavor of authenticity readers will smack their...
When Dracula Joins the Circus
Image by Willgard Krause from Pixabay This afternoon, I was chatting online with an old friend about books. (OK, let’s just pause and appreciate the fact he let me talk about those things with pages,...
What to Do When Your Draft Genuinely Sucks
Image by Anuj Chawla from PixabayEvery writer I know understands that producing a book–or even an article or blog post–is a process. It’s rare for people to spew one version of something, hit publish, and...
The Ultimate Writer Self-Care Checklist
Image by Victoria_Borodinova from PixabayWriting tends to be a pretty lonely and thankless job. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value, and it certainly doesn’t mean that you can’t practice self-care so that everything...
How to Keep Gratitude Journaling from Totally Sucking
Image by Kranich17 from PixabayYou don’t have to look very far to find the benefits of gratitude journaling — stress reduction, for example. But if you don’t approach it the right way, then keeping this...
The Real Reason a Great Writer Needs the Perfect Pen
Image by Here and now, unfortunately, ends my journey on Pixabay from Pixabay It happens to me every flipping year. School supplies come out, and there, somewhere between the Sharpies and zippered plush pencil pouches,...
Plagiarism: What It Is and How to Avoid It
Photo by WangXuefei on Pixabay Being a real wordsmith means that each time you pick up a pencil or sit down at your keyboard, what flows out comes from your own mind and heart. Sure,...
