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The Writing Version of the Dry Heaves
So as you know, I’m not generally a fan of how-to writing books. I always make sure to mention my favorites (Pat Walsh’s 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published… and John Dufresne’s The Lie...
View ArticleHow to Move On
Deciding when to move on from a story (or book or poem or play or whatever) is a challenging choice that bedevils many writers. On the one hand, there are those romantic notions of “never give up on...
View ArticleUseful Advice for the New Year
J.A. Konrath, always a source of useful and helpful writing tips, has an interesting post about setting goals for 2009. While most of us focus on landing an agent, getting published, accumulating a...
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Calendar to a Book Deal
Aspiring authors often get enraged at the lack of true, specific information about publishing. We’re constantly told, “There’s no standard timetable for a publisher to respond.” You can substitute...
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Intensely Focused Practice
When we observe someone who has truly mastered their craft, whether it’s a writer, athlete, musician, or business person, we tend to assume they achieved that level of mastery through a combination of...
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Ten Rules for Writing
The Guardian in Great Britain approached a number of writers, such as Elmore Leonard, Annie Proulx, Ian Rankin, and Zadie Smith, to get ten rules of writing fiction from each. They have some...
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Being Humble and Hardworking While also Being a Bit Different
Most longtime readers know of my fascination with the guitar. Many of you also know that I’m working on a book about guitar players. One of the most interesting musicians I’ve encountered in a while...
View ArticleMitchell Points Out the Limits of a Writing Cliche
Novelist David Mitchell was featured on the San Francisco Chronicle’s webpage and he pointed out the limitations inherent in one of writing’s most beloved sayings: “‘Write what you know’ will only get...
View ArticleNPR Writing Contest, Judged by Michael Cunningham
I don’t enter many writing contests, although lots of people do so with surprising regularity. Some folks approach contests as a way of generating a name and building up a resume. I don’t follow that...
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Ten Tips for Submitting Stories
Over at The Millions, Josh Rolnick presents a great overview of helpful hints for submitting short stories to journals and magazines. Ten Things I’ve Learned Over 12 Years of Sending Out Stories...
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Jim Harrison and Admitting Ignorance
In the October issue of Outside, Tom Bissell recounts his conversation with Jim Harrison in “The Last Lion.” Bissell is the author of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, Chasing the Sea: Lost Among...
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Get Off My Damn Lawn! Says the Internet
As many of you know, November is National Novel Writing Month. To help folks blast through their 50,000 words in 30 days, GalleyCat has been providing writing prompts, tips, and words of...
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Slate Says “Ignore Inspiration”
Slate has been running a series on the rituals and techniques of great artists. Today’s article, focuses on ignoring the idea of waiting for inspiration. “Waiting for inspiration to strike is a...
View ArticleDavid Simon Gets All Richard Price
Here’s the kind of inside information that separates the truly knowledgeable insiders from the writers who just learn from Wikipedia. In “David Simon on Baltimore’s Anguish shares amazingly detailed...
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Are you sure Papa done it this way?
Business Insider linked to a video where bestselling author Tim Ferriss shares tips for creating habits. In the piece, Ferriss suggests creating an incentive plan with a friend or using various...
View ArticleWriters’ groups are really made for writers
“Marketing is a long and arduous process that I wish I would have known more about in the beginning…” opens today’s Publisher’s Weekly article about the professional benefits of joining a writers’...
View ArticleA landslide of Lansdale advice
Author Joe R. Lansdale got 2018 off to a rousing start with a landslide of writing advice on his social media pages. For example, here was an entry on January 5: “Waiting on inspiration may be the...
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