Pillar 6 of the Writing Life As writers, there are certain traps, misconceptions and attitudes we can fall into. If we stay in these traps too long, our writing careers will be derailed, sometimes before the first stretch of track is laid. Trap #1: Everything I write is publishable No, it’s …
Recent Blog Posts
Whoever Said Writing Would Be Easy…
Lied. Writing is hard work. This is the fifth pillar of the writing life. It’s hours and days—and sometimes months and years—of sitting before a computer trying to put words on the screen. Words that make sense. That tell a coherent story. That touch our readers’ lives. Writing is working …
Trust
Trust—in yourself and in your calling and in God—is the fourth pillar of the writing life. Years ago, my wife and I planned to drive from Rhode Island to Fort Worth, Texas so we acquired Trip Tics from AAA. These booklets plotted out every mile of the drive. When we …
Investing in Ourselves
Pillar Three of the writing life is investing. We invest our time, our talent, and our finances in growing as writers. Alton Gansky once said he had the secret to making a small fortune in writing—start with a large fortune. We invest in our writing with the hope we will …
Visit My Guest Blog
This week, I am a guest on Edie Melson’s The Write Conversation blog. http://bit.ly/1xgdNGq Click on over and join the conversation.
Learning Never Ends
Continuing our series on the Nine Pillars of the Writing Life, the second pillar is learning. As in never stop learning. No matter what profession we’re in—law, medicine, auto mechanics, teaching, etc.—there are always new innovations, new tools, new techniques. Everything changes. The one thing we can be sure will …
Persistence Trumps Talent
This week I’m starting a series of blogs called the Nine Pillars of the Writing Life. The series is an outgrowth of my own experiences as an author and draws extensively on the work I’ve done with other writers. Writers who have taught me, writers who have encouraged me, and …
Journeys Within Journeys
Frequently, when speaking with readers and other writers, the subject of theme or message comes up. What is the message of the story? What themes run through the story? What does the story say about the human condition? Themes are not always blatant or obvious. If they are, it may …
Perspective & Creativity
Orson Scott Card tells us “Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” Steven James once wrote, “Creativity isn’t seeing what no one else sees; it’s seeing what anyone else would …
Why Did You Kill that Character?
The writer’s life does not take place in a vacuum. Especially if your work is published. Suddenly, there is a community of readers who have questions about the story and why did certain things happen. Why Did You Kill Old Thomas A frequent question I’ve received is why, in Journey …