“Seeing Myself *Like* Myself Is Pretty Damn Good”
It’s always a little surprising when we hear that people we admire, or who have achieved success by standard metrics,…
Demons
When the World Sucks Your Creativity: Zoom In and Zoom Out
If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here. This morning I received an email from…
You Don’t Have to Do This Alone
There’s a time-honored, romantic image of authors: the solitary genius who lives within the rich worlds in their heads, pecking…
George Michael Had It All Figured Out
If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here. This sign, in the photo in the…
Past, Present, and Future: Your Characters—and You—Live in All Three
The writing you do today—every day—is an amalgam of the writing you have done every other day before it, the…
Most of Your Life Is Medium
Most of the actual day-to-day effort of our creativity tends to be medium-level satisfying. We’re not kissed by the Muse…
Embrace the Suck
Sometimes we may start a project knowing exactly what we want to say and how to say it, and the…
Getting Back on Track When Your Writing Is Derailed
When I work with writers on their manuscripts, the first thing I do is ask them what story they want…
When Will You Be a “Real Writer”?
Authors often don’t believe they are “real writers” until they grab whatever external brass ring they or someone else has…
On Writing Authentically and Pursuing the Perfect Smile
Don’t try to write a perfect story. Don’t try to present exhaustively developed characters whose every life experience you’ve examined…