Your dream book may be the very thing keeping you from writing the real one. The most dangerous version of your book may be the beautiful one in your head. The book in your head is like a snow globe. You can hold it up and see the whole worldContinue Reading
Getting writing feedback is a little like cooking a meal in the middle of town. Imagine Emma, a kind middle-aged woman, standing in the middle of Central Square one day making soup for the people she loves. She’s happily stirring in vegetables and meat and her favorite spices when suddenlyContinue Reading
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
Is your inner critic holding you back? Picture this. There’s a baby in the living room. She’s a little unsteady, but she does that brave baby thing. She pulls herself up, takes two wobbly steps, and then — boom — falls right back down. Now, imagine this. Instead of everybodyContinue Reading
Writers misdiagnose their books all the time, and when they do, they often start fixing the wrong problem. Imagine somebody is seeing a doctor because of chest pain. First the doctor says it’s just stress. Then maybe acid reflux. Later on, anxiety. The patient is told to get more sleep,Continue 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
by Ian Smith Setting: A courtroom. Dimly lit. One defendant in the dock; not a person, but a Brain. Charge: Theft…not of money, but of life. BRAIN: (In the defendant’s stand, looking round and sneering at IAN SMITH, a man on the opposite side in the witness stand.) JUDGE: (whoContinue Reading
The writing life can mess with your head if you let it. I was reading the comments on one of my recent videos, and though many of them were very positive, there were some that just sounded completely defeated. Writers were saying things like, “Nobody reads. Nobody helps writers. PublishersContinue 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
Why do writers quit? Years ago, I attended a writing workshop. The writers in that room were all good. I read their work. About a year later, I followed up with them, and here’s what got me. Almost all of them had stopped writing. I found that really heartbreaking becauseContinue Reading
If you’re making writing career mistakes, I want to spare you some of the years I lost. Picture this: Years of your life wasted, stuck in your first book, completely invisible to readers. And why? Because you ignored four simple pieces of advice. I know because I ignored them, andContinue Reading