A friend asked me last night, “What’s your favorite part about writing books?” My knee-jerk response was, “None of it,” but that’s not really true. If I didn’t love writing, I wouldn’t do it. I was probably channeling the inner angst of other writers I’ve read about. Honestly, I have to think for a moment…
On Writing
A collection of lessons, tools, and techniques on writing.
Book Elevator Pitch Template: How to Explain What Your Book is About
I probably get the question once or twice a week. People know I’m a writer so it almost always comes up in conversation. “So, are you working on a book?” Filled with dread about the next question, I answer, “Yes, actually.” “What’s it about?” Most of the time I fumble through a wandering explanation of…
Writer Tip: Exaggerate Your Character’s Thoughts and Feelings
Teenage boys don’t think a lot about their emotions. Teenage boys in books, however, should. I just finished James Dashner’s The Maze Runner and now I’m on to the sequel, The Scorch Trials. Dashner helps the reader understand what the main character is going through by frequently describing an internal dialogue and set of emotions….
Strategies without Stories Don’t Make Sense
I finished a chapter in the book I’m writing and read through what I wrote. It wasn’t working. It felt empty. I didn’t feel what I was trying to say. What was it missing? Stories and examples. It is easy to describe a strategy and a process to accomplish a goal. It’s also easy to…
NaNoBlogMo: Why Blog Every Day?
Seth Godin blogs every day. He says everyone should do this: Everyone should blog, even if it’s not under their own name, every single day. If you are in public, making predictions and noticing things, your life gets better, because you will find a discipline that can’t help but benefit you. (Source) Fred Wilson, a…
