Goodbye to 2020
A brand new year lies before us like a blinking cursor on an empty page. Before I dive into the next chapter, I wanted to take a moment to review my story so far. How to even start? 2020 was...Read More
Purple Prose: What is It?
One of the shiny writer toys I've put away is purple prose. As a recovering (reformed?) former pantser, I don't write to describe a scene, I write with my focus on the purpose of each scene. My writing thus marches...Read More
New Short Story: “A Place of Peace”
Today, Terror House Magazine published one of my short stories titled, "A Place of Peace". Now, in case the name of the literary magazine hasn't already given it away, I'll give you fair warning, the story is not peaceful. If you've...Read More
NaNoWriMo 2020: An Update
My first official NaNoWriMo is done and in the bag. My middle-grade fantasy story, working title An Ordinary Girl clocked in at a little over 55,000 words, and I actually finished it on the 27th. I've used the past three...Read More
My YouTube Debut
In this age of social media, it was inevitable that I would find an opportunity to spout my writing opinion nonsense on camera. My friend Marcus Ako has a YouTube channel called The Idiot On the Writers Block where he...Read More
NaNoWriMo2020
Can you feel it? The excitement in the air? The buzz of ideas and the sparking of imagination? As October (more commonly known as Preptober) closes, NaNoWriMo draws near. What is NaNoWriMo? NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month...Read More
Feedback: A Great Way to Support Your Fellow Writers
What if there was a shortcut, a writing hack mayhaps, that could dramatically improve your writing in both speed and substance? Psst. There is. It's feedback. Feedback is magical. It points out what isn't working, so you can fix it....Read More
A Writing Journey Update: An Epic Battle in the PitchWars
"You finished a book? Cool! What's your book about?" Actual footage of me previously trying to answer this question. via GIPHY A few weeks ago, I decided to enter my book into the PitchWars Mentorship Contest. It's a program where...Read More
Beta Reading as a Writer
In the last post, I described why writers need beta readers. In this one, I'm going to talk about why a writer should beta read for other writers. Beta reading requires only two things from you; reading the book and...Read More
How Beta Readers Improve Your Writing
You've written a book. A whole book. You've just written the magical words, "The End" and now you're dreaming about the day you'll hold this book in your hand. Sure, you'll need to go through a couple of reads and...Read More
My (Current) Editing Process
Like skinning a cat (who does that??) there are a lot of ways to edit your writing. To deepen my understanding, I've read the editing sections of writing handbooks with great interest. I've also read a few books devoted to...Read More
The Accountability Factor
I'm going to get it together. I am. Starting today. If you guys could read my diary you'd roll your eyes at how often I've said that over my lifetime. The sentiment is usually made with regards to my diet,...Read More