How Do I Begin?
“How do I begin?” The process of story creation is mysterious. Where do your story ideas come from? From where do your […]
“Why Do I Get Stuck?”
When writers come to a dead stop there can be a tendency to panic. It’s important to remember that your idea of […]
The Internet: A Writer’s Worst Distraction
Sometimes the deeper we get into our story, the more we seek distraction. The internet will suck the life out of any […]
First-Time Novelists: Dealing with Fear
Many authors share a similar fear: “What will people think?” It looks slightly different for each writer. What will my parents think when […]
Plot versus Theme
Any writer can experience that moment where you suddenly realize that your “idea” of the story isn’t going to get you to […]
Stay Out of the Result
For any writer, here’s a question to ask yourself: “Why do I want to write this?” A student told me recently that […]
“Write What You Know” Can Be Misunderstood
Every writer hears the old song: “Write what you know.” This can be misunderstood. The fact is, we don’t write what we […]
Writing When You Have Nothing to Lose
Have you ever experienced great loss? Whether it was a parent, spouse, or friend, the experience pulls you sharply into the present […]
Discovering Your Process
Finding Your Way As you write each day, you discover your own process. You begin to see there is no “right way” […]
Trusting the Process
Be open to possibilities When I wrote my first novel Diamond Dogs, I had the idea that my hero, a high school senior, […]
Take Risks – Advice for First-Time Writers
“In order to share one’s true brilliance one initially has to risk looking like a fool.” – Criss Jami Writing your first […]
Developing Your Writing Technique
Technique develops over time. By reading and writing, we absorb a sense of story structure, cadence, and rhythm. We learn how […]
What Happens Next?
The first step in creating a fully alive story is imagining the world. This simply means envisioning your characters in relation to […]
Writing Without Distraction
You’ve begun working in earnest. The story is alive, your cylinders are firing. You’re getting up every morning and putting in the […]
Creativity is Your Birthright
Creativity is your birthright. We live in a culture that is invested in our believing otherwise. I frequently hear folks talk of […]
A Pencil for Christmas
So many of my students and potential students come to me wanting to know how to get published and produced. They want their work to be read, to be seen. But what they really want is for themselves to be seen.
Finishing Your Story: 5 Tips to Get You to the End
For all you writers struggling somewhere in the middle of your manuscript, here are five tips to get you to the end. […]
The Difference Between Journaling and Storytelling
The difference between journaling and storytelling is context. Journaling is simply documenting what happened. Storytelling involves illustrating the meaning of what happened. […]
