In my January newsletter I addressed the age-old either-or debate about writing style—plotting out your work before writing (plotters) or writing by the seat of your pants (pantsters)—and attempted to rebrand them as navigators and wanderers. Briefly explaining the differences between the two and confessing I’m a chronic navigator, I then touched on the benefits …
Continue reading How to Be a Plotter and a Pantster: Webinar July 26, 2021
UPDATE (August 17, 2019): I'm so grateful for the individuals who reached out and agreed to be beta readers. I'm good for now, so anyone finding this post is off the hook. Can't wait to get feedback! -------------- It's a big ask, hoping someone takes the time to read a novel you're writing, with nothing …
Continue reading Would you like to beta-read an urban fantasy novel?
"Writing a novel is like having a baby," writes National Book Award finalist Kim Addonizio in Bukowski in a Sundress: Confessions from a Writing Life. I have never personally given birth, but I am a father of two. With both pregnancies my wife and I refrained for some time before sharing the news with others. There's that …
Continue reading Meet 3 Impressive Fiction Writers Inspiring Me to Return to Writing
Memoirs are supposed to be languid reflections of a notable life lived, correct? So how would you describe Cheryl Strayed's runaway bestseller Wild, coming soon as a movie to a theater near you starring Reece Witherspoon? Strayed shares in her memoir insights on a failed marriage, grief over a lost mother, and pain stemming from a …
Enough about my journey to book publication. Let's hear from another author, novelist Sheila R. Lamb. I first encountered Sheila on Twitter in 2010. We were on the same road, creative writers looking to grow. Since connecting, we both researched, enrolled in, and graduated from low-residency MFA programs. We also both became published authors (well, …
News flash: A compelling novel can magically transport you to another world. Apparently this lifelong reader needed that reminder this past weekend. I've been feeling creatively underpowered, as I've written, but I've also been physically unwell and busier than usual at my day job. So this weekend I traveled to a dystopian future world called …
Is your creativity selling out someone in your life? Joan Didion famously wrote that "writers are always selling somebody out." Songwriters, painters, novelists and other creatives channel their life experiences when producing their art. Take my post on Tuesday, in which I passed along advice I heard at a recent writer's conference about building a …
I'm honored today to be a guest blogger on K.M. Weiland's Wordplay. K.M.'s blog provides useful tips and resources for fiction writers, and as some readers know I'm currently focusing on creative non-fiction. Thus my guest post titled "What Non-Fiction Authors Can Teach Novelists." I'd love for you to visit Wordplay, check out my guest …
Continue reading Writing Better Fiction by Reading Nonfiction
The Artist's Road 