I’m sure all writers have that one movie they feel every writer should watch. Mine is Stand By Me, which is based on the Stephen King short story “The Body.” I love this film for so many reasons: the time in my life when I saw it (aged 13 in 1986), the story itself, and, […]
If you had asked me a year ago if I’d ever self-publish, I would have given an emphatic “No.” At the time, I was busy at work on the draft of my second novel, and I was still caught up in the dream of landing an agent and a traditional publishing deal. Now, I won’t […]
…in no particular order: PostSecret (My short story “A Touch of Charlotte” was inspired by one of the postcards from PS.) The “Science” section from one of my favorite magazines, The Week. Actually, almost all the sections of The Week get my juices going (a close second – almost anything in Wired). The news, in […]
Anyone who runs a blog knows about comment spam. The sheer amount I get would catapult this blog into the OMG Best. Blog. Ever. category, if that were the parameters that determined popularity. I actually don’t understand how spam works. I mean, is it all automated, or is some of it manually posted by real […]
Okay, so that title is misleading. Sure there are rules. I have rules. That ultra-particular person in your writers group definitely has rules, and rules for his rules. Your seventh grade English teacher had rules. Agents have rules. Publishers have rules. But here’s the funny thing about rules, at least in writing (and probably in […]
I get sucked into the crime/thriller show marathons that stations like TNT run (Law & Order, anyone?). Bones is one I watch, although I don’t love that show as much as L&O or SVU. But I do have a bone to pick with the writers of Bones: it always irritates me when a character is […]
I have a good friend who is struggling in her job. She wants to leave it — she really does — and she would like to write full time (freelance and creative stuff; she’s a novelist). But she’s scared. Scared of the unknown. Scared of being poor in a tough economic climate. Scared she won’t […]
Former agent, current author, and all-around-nice-guy Nathan Bransford is running his annual Stupendously Ultimate First Paragraph Challenge over on his blog. Over 1500 writers (this one included) posted the first paragraphs of their WIP (work in progress). Sweet Jesus! That’s a lot of writers, a lot of dreams, a lot of late nights, early mornings, […]
Just discovered this dude who is trying to write one novel per month for 12 months. He just finished January. You can follow his progress here. Here’s his reasoning, and I quote: “Great authors such as Stephen King have assured the world that we all need to write 1,000,000 words of drivel before we can […]
I was excited to see the Kindle Singles section of the store go live on Amazon with some heavy hitters, including one of my faves: Jodi Picoult. I’m not happy about some of the comments I’ve seen floating around about Kindle Singles being for people with short attention spans. Nothing could be further from the […]