Writers these days don’t get to think about just writing. If you want to learn how to sell your books, you must also think about marketing. And yet, most writers hate marketing. Popular marketing wisdom, particularly within the last decade, says newbie authors should start building marketing platforms before they’re ever published. Start a blog, […]
July 9, 2018 by 103 Comments Writing LifeDon’t Let Anybody Tell You How to Write (or 8 Tips for Learning Responsibly)
My mom tells me I’m going to put myself out of business with that title. But, seriously, I mean it. Don’t let anybody tell you how to write. Not me. Not Stephen King. Not Writer’s Digest. Not Aristotle. This is actually a huge problem among writers. I know because I’ve spent my own fair share of […]
July 2, 2018 by 94 Comments How to Become a WriterJudge Yourself Less, Trust Yourself More, and Write Better Stories
When we think of creativity, we usually think of light and color, happiness and freedom. That’s the upside of living the creative life of a writer. But there’s a dark side too—one we don’t always like to talk about. And that dark side can be encapsulated in two words: judgment and perfectionism. There’s a controversial […]
May 21, 2018 by 23 Comments How to Become a WriterHow to Grow as a Writer: 5 Logical Steps
Writers are students. Sometimes this is the result of nothing more than sheer necessity: we seek answers for our questions because writing has turned out to be far more difficult than we anticipated. But often, writers are students first and writers second. If this is you, then concentrating on how to grow as a writer […]
May 14, 2018 by 69 Comments How to Become a Writer5 Lies Writers Believe That Are Holding Them Back
There are many lies writers believe that hold them back. When you think about it, this is kind of ironic. After all, aren’t stories stories lies that serve to tell the truth? I think the reason most writers get a perverse chuckle out of that last idea is because, as humans, we are hard-wired to […]
March 19, 2018 by 53 Comments Writing LifeLearn 5 Ways to Take Risks With Your Writing
We writers are really kind of a whiny bunch. Our Facebook and Twitter streams, our blogs, sometimes even our books are full of discussions about how hard it is to to be writers. There’s a lot of (mostly) good-natured woe-is-me-ing; sharing of commiserative quotes from our patrons, St. Hemingway and St. Plath; and so, so much […]
January 22, 2018 by 89 Comments Writing InspirationThe Words That Changed Your Life: Discovering What Made You a Writer
For me, it’s almost become a cliché answer: “I write because stories have always been my language. I write because my very first memory is telling myself a story.” “Why do you write?” and “What made you a writer?” are two questions I’m ubiquitously asked in interviews. I can respond to those questions in my […]
January 15, 2018 by 79 Comments Writing Inspiration4 (Possible) Reasons Why We Write
It is the nature of writers to wonder. We wonder about others and we wonder about ourselves. We even wonder why we write. For most of us the compulsion to write is so… ineffable. Why do we write? We just do. We desire the stories. We love the words. We are compelled to communicate our wonder with […]
January 1, 2018 by 76 Comments Writing Life4 Life-Changing New Year’s Lessons for Writers
It’s weird, but I actually don’t like goals. Why does someone like me, who has always thrived on productivity, schedules, and forward momentum, not like goals? This morning, I realized it’s because the word “goal,” is associated with ideas of “yikes, that’ll be hard,” “probably won’t happen,” “doesn’t sound fun,” and “this isn’t really something I […]
December 11, 2017 by 72 Comments Writing LifeMy Top Books of 2017
When you’re a writer, stories are life. You can’t create them without ingesting them. That’s why Stephen King famously said: If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that. That’s why this annual look back at my top books of 2017 is always one […]
