Co-writer of the Shepherd and Wolfe young adult mysteries, the internationally award-winning series, and teacher of storytelling and screenwriting.
Newsletter
This past week, my writing partner and I were at the Cathedral Arts Festival, a week-long event in our city. Every year, at the end of the celebration, several blocks of a street are closed for a fair filled with music, food, arts, and crafts. It's a fun
On Writing
Yesterday's newsletter didn't go to the right group, so I had to resend it tonight. It may even come out after I'm finished with this blog post. I finished it early yesterday, did several edits, then had my wife read it before I sent
On Writing
Write a blog post every day. Write your book every day. Show love to those close to you. Take walks. Exercise. Read. Each of these is a small pebble in the pond that ripples forward and backward through your life. Throw enough, and eventually, they'll ripple back. (h/
Personal
I first started posting on Tumblr in May 2007. I shared family stuff and links until I eventually started writing about writing. Usually, it was about trying to convince people to write. A lot of it is uncomfortable to read now—a little too cocky and unsympathetic to people'
On Writing
Someone finds your writing meaningful. It gives them hope and purpose. They find inspiration in it. After a very long day or week, they find escape within the pages of your story. So do the writing, no matter how you feel. You're helping someone, and that's
On Writing
The primary way most authors make money self-publishing online is to write daily and publish regularly—often many times a year. The goal set by many is to write 20 books to earn 50,000. With that many books, avid readers will help build and support your career. (I remember
On Writing
One of my favourite activities as an author is selling one-to-one. It's not an activity that scales, but it's nice to talk to readers, and it's always a lot of fun. My writing partner and I feel like we're pretty good at
On Writing
**Spoilers ahead After finishing The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel last night, I went searching for some behind-the-scenes info and found this article from Vanity Fair. The two bits that stood out. The first is from Amy Sherman-Palladino: We had so much story to get into this season because we needed to
On Writing
A client uses a formula—ACTIAMO—when exploring her characters. They discovered it in The Benson Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine: Crimes possess all the basic factors of a work of art—approach, conception, technique, imagination, attack, method and organisation. Moreover, crimes vary fully as much in their
On Writing
All short, fast forms to get the words on the page. One thought quickly put on the page to be shared. You don't have to do something big. You just have to do something.
On Writing
Sometimes projects don’t go as we want. They got lose steam, lose energy, and get lost along the way. Sometimes it’s too big, too unwieldy to get it on the page. Or we don’t have enough information or time, or skill to sort it out. Any of
On Writing
A character's want can never exist in a vacuum. Otherwise, they'd immediately get what they want. But it doesn't have to create CONFLICT! It can make a problem, a challenge, a difficulty, or a conflict (not written in ALL CAPS). They can be other
On Writing
We probably have 5–7 significant movements throughout our lives, shaped by the deep abstract internal that move us forward. For example: * as a baby, we might want security and love. * as a child, we might want independence. * as a teen, we might want social connections. * as an adult, we
Personal
From Mark Forsyth, in his book The Elements of Eloquence: Adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that word order in the slightest you’ll sound
Don’t burn your creative energy before you have to write.
Even if you hate it, try it.