It’s a nice thought to imagine that one day a creative urge will hit you and you’ll finally write that novel you’ve thought about writing for years. But it doesn’t work that way. Maybe you think, “I’ll start being creative when I retire,” but here’s the thing: it takes a lot of practice to be […]
Sick of Your Own Writing
I have a little secret about the first novel I ever wrote: I’m really, really sick of it! It started out as a screenplay, which was edited several times. Then I used the screenplay as an outline for a novel, which was edited several times. Then I recorded the novel and released it as a […]
Monday Motivation – Moving Forward (With Writing)
Three weeks ago — after being laid off twice in less than a year and a run at freelance technical writing and editing — I’ve returned to a day job. (Writing procedures for a large finance company.) Looking back on the past year and then some, I’m proud of what I accomplished as a writer. […]
Monday Motivation: Be Quiet
“I think it’s bad to talk about one’s present work, for it spoils something at the root of the creative act. It discharges the tension.” – Norman Mailer My wife and I have a rule: I’m not allowed to talk about a work in progress. If I have something I need to talk through, I […]
How To Know You’re A Good Writer
More than a couple times, I’ve heard a newer writer say, “I just want to submit my stuff and have somebody tell me I suck.” Aside from the masochistic urge of being knocked, if you know you suck, you’re wasting everybody’s time submitting. Even more than “I just want to submit my stuff and have […]
Something Writers Need to Understand
I hear it all the time: people hearing about something that falls outside their sphere of comfort that makes them say, “I just don’t understand that…” It can be related to a story somebody tells at work, or something seen on the news; it can be something somebody in an extended family does, or have […]
Monday Motivation: Learning from Musicians
I’ve known my friend Brent Meyer since high school. We’ve always supported what the other is up to, even though Brent’s always been focused on music, and my focus has always been on writing. Being friends with Brent, I’ve seen that no matter what one’s creative obsession, there are many parallels about what works no […]
One Thing for 2011
It’s that time of year when people share their resolutions for the next year. (Or proclaim how silly resolutions are!) The problem with resolutions is most lists look like this: Lose weight. Learn another language. Travel to 5 different countries…maybe even 10! Write and sell some kind of book. Make an additional $50,000. Do something […]
A Clean New Year
My wife and I went on a cleaning spree last week. We decided to treat the second-to-last week in December like a spring cleaning day. We’re pretty tidy people, but dust eventually gathers and sometimes we take a few days and spend a couple hours on each of those days cleaning a room or two. […]
2010: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
[While this is meant to be a writing-related post, it can apply to anything.] I’ve heard many friends say that 2010 went by in a blur. Looking back at 2010, in ways it seems like a blur to me, too — and in other ways it seems like a year that settled in for a […]
Cartoon Neil Gaiman Wants You To Write!
I haven’t shouted it from the rooftops, but I’m shooting for a post a day this December. No real reason, other than it seemed like a cool thing to do at the end of the year. Today, though, I’ve been busy. One of the reasons I don’t normally post every day is I’m not a […]
If Your Characters Could Talk
If your characters could talk, what would they say to you? Would the bad guy yell at you because just when it looked like you were going to let him carry out his evil plan exactly as planned, you pulled it away? In most cases, if you did everything right, you want a bad guy […]
What to Do When You Finish a Novel
You’ve finished a novel. So what? Many people feel like creating something big is enough, that in finishing a novel they’ve done all they need to do. If you write for yourself — and I’d argue there’s no better reason to write — you really have done all you need to do when you complete […]
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