When writing becomes a lifeline, it starts to mean something deeper than sales, recognition, or whatever rung you thought you were supposed to be climbing next. I was listening to a Tom Jones interview the other day, and it really stayed with me. My mom used to play his recordsContinue Reading
Third person self-talk may sound a little ridiculous at first, but I’m going to tell you why I use it and why I think it could help you, too. When I was working on my novel, The Beached Ones, I soon figured out that my main character was a motorcycleContinue Reading
If you quit books too soon, or feel tempted to abandon them somewhere around chapter two or three, it usually doesn’t mean the idea has failed. Instead, it means the writing process has changed, and your brain needs something different now than it did at the start. A lot ofContinue Reading
Self-doubt can feel like just another miserable part of writing, but in my experience, it often becomes far more dangerous than that. That’s because it tends to show up at the exact moments that matter most in your writing life. And if you don’t recognize it for what it is,Continue Reading
How do we handle too many story ideas when every one of them feels urgent, exciting, and somehow more promising than the one already sitting in front of us? Let me ask you something. How many story ideas are sitting on your laptop or in your notes right now? BeContinue Reading
How great writers improve—do they really need to, or do they just have the talent to begin with? When you sit down to write and it’s just not working, do you secretly worry that maybe you just don’t have it? That natural-born genius that the great writers seem to have?Continue Reading
When you stop writing, it usually feels like the most reasonable, grown-up choice you can make. Life gets overwhelming, the schedule explodes, and most writers do the same thing. We push the writing aside, promising that we’ll get through the chaos first and then come back to the writing whenContinue Reading
“Believe in yourself” sounds like writing advice that should help, and yet for a lot of writers, it lands like a shrug. How many times have you heard this: You just have to believe in yourself. As if writing success is that simple. So you try. You tell yourself youContinue Reading
Would you decide to be a writer again if you knew the truth about the writing life? Every writer thinks they know what they’re signing up for—passion, purpose, and maybe a little fame if the universe is feeling kind. You picture yourself sipping your favorite cup of coffee while yourContinue Reading
Haunted by writing procrastination? Meet your ghouls. Your writing desk is crawling with them! Clever little time thieves who slip in the moment you sit down to write. And by the time you notice, they’ve drained your writing hours dry. That’s why adding more time never works. Because if youContinue Reading
I ask my students a simple question: Who are your heroes? Most say what you’d expect—YouTubers, bands, maybe a pro gamer or two. But recently, one quiet student, just 13 years old, surprised me. She’s one of my music students, not someone I expected to name a writer. “Bonnie MacBird,”Continue Reading
Oh, the dreaded inner critic. Every writer knows exactly what theirs sounds like. It’s the soundtrack to your life, impossible to miss. Your inner critic has the power to stop you in your tracks and hold you stuck for days, months, even years, blocking your creative flow and swirling youContinue Reading