Time and the Lie of Continuity

Thus, in the interests of fairness and equality, I’m arranging the chapters of my next book in the only order that makes sense: alphabetically.

How to Keep Your Writing from Eating Itself

If our lives are filled with nothing but writing, then our art suffers a sad case of cannibalism. Your writing needs to be fed events and thoughts emerging organically from your life. If your writing has nothing to feed upon but your own writing, then it is inbred and has turned back upon itself.

5 Reasons to Write

1: You need to get used to disappointment in life. Writing helps you with that. This is not to say that you won’t have fun writing, but it’s inevitable that you will only have fun after long stretches of disappointment. Writing teaches you to find fun and enjoyment after disappointment. 2: Have you ever watched […]

My Virtual Assistant

I use a virtual assistant named Kenna. She isn’t really real. That’s because she’s “virtual”, which in this case means “imaginary” instead of “outsourced to technology”. I can’t afford a real assistant (nor could I provide enough work for one) and I don’t have a fancy-wancy digital assistant like Siri, or Cortana, or Galaxy, or […]

Literary Photobomb

Should you allow your characters to run wild?
That’s your decision.
Then again, maybe it’s your characters’ decision.

The 4 Characters I Want to See

These are the things I want to see, if only to stand out in a crowd of predictable books.
What kind of characters would you like to see?

The 5 Things Every Writer Needs

Every writer needs these.
What are your 5 things?

Can I Read the Same Book Twice and Maintain My Humanity?

In the home of every bookworm is an identical edifice. I don’t care where you go, how far you travel, or to what strange ends of the earth you journey, if you enter the home of a bookworm, you will always find a stack of books that the bookworm intends to read ‘sometime later’.

Just Write

So for your own sake, write badly

How Coincidental

Coincidence is one of the most powerful tools in the hands of a writer. Be warned: a powerful tool is also a dangerous one.