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Professional Wednesday: Writing All Sorts of Stuff
As I mentioned in last week’s Professional Wednesday post, I have a teaching gig coming up. I’ll be leading a couple of critique workshops, and this Saturday, I’ll be giving a long talk on writing epic...
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Professional Tuesday: The Creative Origins of RADIANTS
A couple of years ago, I put the finishing touches on the third book of a time travel/epic fantasy trilogy called the Islevale Cycle. I loved the Islevale books then, and I remain incredibly proud of...
View ArticleCreative Wednesday: What the Beatles Documentary Teaches Us About Creativity
So it’s Creative Wednesday, and I am still thinking about the Beatles documentary. Specifically, I’m reflecting on something I mentioned in my Monday post — the creative energy that Paul McCartney...
View ArticleProfessional Wednesday: Stop Writing
Here’s some writing advice for today, three days before Christmas: Stop trying to write and go spend time with someone you love. I am all about BIC — put your Butt In the Chair. Writing, like exercise...
View ArticleProfessional Wednesday: Writing To Heal
Writing saved me this year. I have been through a lot over the past 12 months, from dealing with the devastating reality of one of my kids having cancer, to coming to terms with my personal mental...
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Professional Wednesday: Write What You Know?
I remember a conversation with my father when I was a kid, about a friend of the family who was trying to make a second career for himself as a writer of fiction. His first novel had come out recently,...
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Professional Wednesday: “Write What You Know,” part II
Put another way, I was driven . . . not merely by the fact that I “know” these things, but rather by the fascination and passion that drove me to learn about them in the first place. With last week’s...
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Monday Musings: How I Started Writing — A Case Study of Dubious Worth, part II
Last week, in the first of what I expect to be a three or four part series on how I got started in writing, I posted about my early creative efforts and the teachers who were so influential in...
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Professional Wednesday: Throw Nothing Away — A Writing Lesson Courtesy of...
February has begun, Punxsutawney Phil has done his schtick, and time seems to be moving at breakneck speed. In a little over two weeks, Invasives, the second Radiants book, will be released by Belle...
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Monday Musings: How I Started Writing — A Case Study of Dubious Worth, part III
Today I continue my series of posts on how I got started in writing. (If you want to catch up, you can find the first post here, and the second post here.) The subtitle of this collection of posts is...
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Monday Musings: How I Started Writing — A Case Study of Dubious Worth, part IV
Continuing my series on how I came to be a professional writer . . . (Here are links to Part I, Part II, and Part III) When we left off last week, I had just received 1) an offer to teach history and...
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Monday Musings: How I Started Writing — A Case Study of Dubious Worth, Epilogue
This week I conclude my series of posts on how I came to be a professional writer. You can read the previous posts before moving on with this one. We’ll wait. [Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV]...
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Monday Musings: About That Professional News I Mentioned Two Months Ago…
Nearly two months ago, early in the new year, I posted on social media that I had some exciting professional news I couldn’t share quite yet. I was thrilled, and wanted to let people know. But I also...
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Professional Wednesday: Down Time Is Not Wasted Time — A Guest Post From JD...
My friend JD Blackrose has a new book coming out — Demon Kissed, a novel I was happy to blurb. Today she drops some writing wisdom on us. Read on! You won’t get your best ideas sitting at your desk....
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Professional Wednesday: Confessions — The Ways In Which I Waste Work Time
I have shared some personal stuff in these posts in the past. Today’s post is the most private, the most embarrassing, the most revealing I’ve ever written. Well, not really. But today, I confess to...
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Professional Wednesday: I’m Stuck
My muse, on the other hand, is a peripatetic tramp who can’t be counted on to show up at any given time on any given day. If I had to wait for that bastard to show in order to write something, I’d...
View ArticleMonday Musings: Shutting Out the World
I have struggled some in recent weeks to come up with topics for my Monday Musings posts. One reason for this: I don’t want to overload readers with essays about family issues and mental health, though...
View ArticleMonday Musings: Giving Clueless Advice
This past week, I spent a good deal of time going through old magazines and books in my office trying to clear out some of the clutter. (More on that in Wednesday’s post.) For years, I have subscribed...
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Professional Wednesday: Tending To Our Work Space
About a month ago, I wrote a Professional Wednesday post about how I was somewhat stuck creatively. I felt stagnant, unable to kick myself into motion when it came to writing new material. Then, about...
View ArticleProfessional Wednesday: Most Important Lessons — Dealing With the Slog, part I
Just keep swimming Just keep swimming Just keep swimming… Yes, I am a Pixar fan. Sue me. My kids were the perfect age for the magical first generation of Pixar movies — Toy Story (1 and 2); Monsters,...
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