I feel like I am in the midst of the reading slump to end all reading slumps. It has stretched from October to November to December. On the rare occasion that I have a moment to actually pick up a book, I lack the mental bandwidth to focus on it. And that’s really a bummer… Read more »
One thing that really fascinated me while writing The Original Glitch was trying to understand why anyone would want to do this. There are certainly reasons to create algorithms with specific goals that can benefit us as users. But why are we so interested in creating artificial intelligence, a human-mirroring collection of algorithms? In addition… Read more »
I’ve heard a lot of talk lately on “passive protagonists” and it got me thinking about how this plays into the world of historical fiction. I’m drawn to brave, almost heroic women from the past, and isn’t that what everyone wants, a protagonist with agency? Let’s break down how to examine HERstory in a way… Read more »
The end of the year is filled with stockpiles of sweets, long lines at the grocery store, and a constant reminder that the clock is ticking on your goals—like where you wanted to be with your manuscript. Even if you’ve boycotted the holidays like Chandler Bing with his Thanksgiving grilled cheese and Frank Costanza with… Read more »
This is the final installment of my 2021 Virtual Writers Sabbatical (“VWS”) series and today we are focusing on book coaching. If you are new to the VWS, it’s a build your own virtual writing craft adventure where you focus on you and your writing craft and identify specific writing goals that you will chip… Read more »
Have you gone to bed wishing the world was a better place, if not for you than for your loved ones? Maybe someone cut you off when you’re already late, maybe you saw a stressed mom yelling at her kids in the grocery store. You wished you could do something, anything, to make life a… Read more »
It’s coming up to the rom-com season of the year: Christmas. And whether you’re writing a novel or a screenplay, it’s handy to know your Christmas romance tropes and important to make them fresh, original, and most of all, interesting. So let’s talk about what the Christmas romance tropes are: “But since it’s Christmas…” When… Read more »
Something my students hear from me all the time, and which I’ve probably written about in one or more of my DIY MFA columns, is that writing doesn’t occur in a vacuum. At least, our best writing doesn’t. What I mean by that is, even the best and most seasoned writers have always found it… Read more »
It’s just one of those things you hear, like “the best way to get over someone is to meet someone new” or “expect the best but prepare for the worst.” Either way, the one piece of advice all my writer friends gave me as my debut novel went to print was, “Start working on a… Read more »
Early in my writing career, I won second place for a short story, “When We Leave Here” in a contest sponsored by the Wyoming Writers Association. Encouraged by that recognition, I submitted the first chapter of a novel I’d started to a published author at the conference. After being told “Never start a story with someone… Read more »
