Last week, I found a meme on Pinterest that showed someone dispensing two different soft drinks into the same cardboard cup. One of the drink buttons was labeled “Feeling stressed out when writing” and the other was labeled “Feeling stressed out when you haven’t written.” It’s funny because it’s true. The writing life is constantly […]
May 15, 2011 by 62 Comments Writing LifeThe Secret Ingredient of Original Stories
With all the new books published in the last year alone, you kind of have to wonder if maybe everything there is to be said has already been said. With so many new books churning out every day, surely every idea has been done to death. What room is left for original stories? You may […]
November 17, 2010 by 11 Comments Writing LifeWhy Authors Must Be Honest
As a writer, you will often need to address issues that make you uncomfortable. Whether it’s violence, questions of morality, or thematic elements, the nature of conflict inherent to fiction means you will often forced to write about hard subjects. Sometimes, it can be tempting to write your way around these issues, to whitewash or […]
March 8, 2009 by 21 Comments ThemeThe Reason The Great Escape Is My All-Time Favorite Movie
My all-time favorite movie is the classic World War II film The Great Escape (1963), with Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough. How come? When you think about it, it’s really a strange war movie: hardly any violence, little action to speak of, and few references to the war itself. Yet every time I watch it, […]
