In honor of Nanowrimo’s big kickoff tomorrow (or today, for some of you), I made another Nanowrimo desktop wallpaper. This one just covers the first week, so there will be more like it coming. I don’t know how much true utility this one has, but it was fun to make anyway. Cheers. Oh, and feel [...]
My 10 Favorite Books on Writing
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I realized belatedly that maybe I should have picked a snappier, less self-centered title, like 10 Books On Writing You Must Read in Order to Not Be a Total Asshole, but, whatever, too late now.) A friend recently asked for my favorite books on the craft of writing. I had originally intended to go through [...]
Two Kinds of Obstacle-Stacking
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The basic unit of the dramatic scene is this: give a character a goal to pursue, have them pursue it, then move that goal further away. Rinse, raise the stakes, repeat. The harder your characters fight to reach their goal (and the further they’re driven away from it), the more your readers will love it. [...]
Guest Post on WrimosFTW: 10K in a Day
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I have a guest post over on WrimosFTW! about how I wrote 10,000 words in a day for Nanowrimo a few years ago. These days, such an accomplishment is pretty banal; to get noticed by Nano, people now have to write 20,000 words in an hour on the back of a bus ticket while wearing [...]
The Lurking Fear
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Among the many stops on what I call the Road to Getting Serious About Writing is a frank conversation I had with a close friend many years ago. He had just finished assembling materials for a book idea he’d been kicking around for years, and admitted to me that he was nervous about starting. “Why?” [...]
The Hailstorm Approach: Prep for Nanowrimo in Seven Days (or Less)
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So you decided to participate in National Novel Writing Month this year. You’ve kicked around a few ideas and sworn to make an outline. Then things got busy. The kid got sick. You just had to find out if Elise was going to get kicked off Hell’s Kitchen. Your World of Warcraft raid group decided [...]
Goals, Deadlines and Dead Men
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On Wednesday, I ran into the problem that plagues all public writing events: the dreaded realization that I’d bitten off more than I could choke down my already-packed writing schedule. And its sister realization: I will need to scale back my goals. By admitting it publicly. I could imagine the cheers and boos at my [...]
Write With Passion or Not at All
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It’s no secret that writers can be a moody, temperamental lot. Often, we find ourselves approaching our craft with all the boundless verve and energy of a wrongly convicted prisoner walking the Green Mile. Sure, there are a plenty of blithe souls who seem to float through the act of writing (or editing, or revising) [...]
New Nanowrimo Wallpaper Variants
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I’ve uploaded some new versions of my 2011 Nanowrimo calendar wallpaper page with four new color schemes. Check ‘em out and enjoy! I’ll be adding more from time to time through this month and next.
Guest Post: Why Do You Write? Part Two
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Every writer needs to know why they write. Being honest about your goals and your motivations will save you heartache in the long run. If you understand why you are embarking on a project, chances are you will have less once-promising projects gathering dust in the corner. In Part One, I made the case for [...]
