Well, I’m sitting in a breakfast nook, surrounded by sunshine, in a condo I hadn’t seen as of January 1, living a life that I hadn’t expected to be living on that day either. Dean and I are now going back and forth between Las Vegas and Lincoln City. In fact, he’s in Lincoln City […]
Continue ReadingLast week’s blog, “The People in Your Office,” sparked a lot of discussion on writer and reader websites. The comments section deals with both points of view as well. A lot of the comments have rattled around in my brain since the post went up. I love how Jonathan Moeller summarized one part of it: […]
Continue ReadingBecause dozens of you have asked me, both privately and in comments, how I write with a chronic health condition.
There really is a trick to the writing while chronically ill. But the trick is personal, and it’s tailored to each individual person.
So, more personal stories—and then tips.
Continue ReadingSometimes, art provides a different perspective, a new way of thinking about important things. And sometimes, we just hang out with a little boy wizard fighting a big powerful evil because it entertains us.
This is not light stuff. It is not unimportant. It is extremely important.
As I said, I wrote about this in October. But I didn’t tell you how to keep practicing your art in difficult times. So let me add that.
So…how do we do our jobs when our world is on fire?
Continue ReadingAccording to lore and the internet, either Stephen King or Ernest Hemingway first said that there are two kinds of writers—putter-inners and taker-outters. (I can’t find the quote. I’m pressed for time. You find it.) I would add that there is at least one more type of writer, and that would be “all of the […]
Continue ReadingI made a promise to myself when I started this blog up again a little over a year ago that I wouldn’t use the blog to put extra pressure on myself. This morning, I finished the last chapter of a book I’ve worked on for eleven years. I’ve done six different half drafts of the […]
Continue ReadingAfter I published a recent blog post, a well published writer responded by saying that one of her business choices was the best possible bet she could take. Her entire response to the post was filled with gambling language. She said that business was about placing your bets where the odds are best, that becoming […]
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Marie Force wrote a lovely blog post this week on the five-year anniversary of her major success as an indie writer. She busts a few myths about her career in the post, and she’s very clear about her numbers, and the events that came together to launch her success. She’s written something similar before, but […]
Continue ReadingWe all have those moments when we think, Jeez, if I just write [insert latest trend here], I’ll do so much better than I’m already doing. It doesn’t matter how well we’re already doing. There’s always a better. If you’ve been in the business a long time, you have a follow-up thought: I know how […]
Continue ReadingDean has posted new online workshops for March. I won’t be the face on-screen. That’ll be Dean because he’s so much better at explaining things. But I have a hand in both of them–a big hand, in fact, since I’m the one who suggested the topics. They are: How To Plot Your Novel and World […]
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