writing

  • Handling Rejection

    So you’ve chosen the path of the creative. Congrats, you’re pursuing your calling! At least, I hope it’s your calling. I hope you’re driven, excited and passionate about what will be your life’s work. Otherwise you’re not going to make it. Seriously. If you’re not 1000 percent committed to this path, the rejection you’re going to […]

  • Hundreds of Writing Prompts for Creative Writers

    I have a lot of writing prompts, a large number of them free. The rest are available monthly through a subscription called Prompted (but more on that below). Here’s a list. 25 Fantasy Writing Prompts 30 Scifi Writing Prompts 25 New Scifi and Fantasy Writing Prompts 34 More Scifi and Fantasy Writing Prompts 25 Scifi […]

  • What Writers Like You Wish They Knew, pt 2

    Last week I published the first part of this series — I’d asked a bunch of writers on my mailing list what they wish they knew before they started writing. I got a ton of fantastic responses, too many to include all of them, sadly — but I’ve picked 10 more to share with you. […]

  • What Writers Like You Wish They Knew, pt 1

    What do you know now that you wish you knew before you started writing? I posed that question to several thousand people on my mailing list recently and here are a few of the responses I’ve identified with the most. These are writers at all stages of their careers, from all kinds of backgrounds, ages, walks […]

  • 3 Secrets To The Compound Effect

    What is the Compound Effect? It’s pretty simple. Since most of you are writers, we’ll use you as an example. Write 2,000 words a day and in a month, you’ve got a novel. That’s pretty much it. The compound effect is the idea that small actions, over time, add up to something big. Small Actions […]

  • 5 Reasons You’re Still an Amateur Writer

    Amateur isn’t a bad word and being an amateur writer isn’t a bad thing. We all started there — technically it just means that you’re pursuing your work on an unpaid basis. Eventually, most of us, though, want to make the jump from amateur to pro. I think that can look like different things for different […]

  • You’re not Stephen King

    Yet. I think one day, you totally can be as great or even better. Here’s why I’m saying this to you right now. Someone stumbled on an article about common mistakes new writers make — mistakes that make it really easy for editors to toss you into the no pile — and she was incensed. I’ll […]

  • Storyed: The subscription box for writers and storytellers

    So for a long time, I’ve wanted to do a monthly subscription box for writers and more-inclusively those who’d call themselves storytellers, something along the lines of Lootcrate or Birchbox… So, here it is: STORYED Our first box is going to be shipping soon. We’re still in the design phase but we’re picturing books on storytelling, writing […]

  • 25 New Scifi and Fantasy Writing Prompts

    You asked for them, so here you go! 30 all new scoff and fantasy writing prompts — perfect for short stories, short films, full blown novels and screenplays or even just some quick flash fiction. It’s all up to you, and as always, they’re licensed under a Creative Commons license. Have fun and please share! […]