Oddly enough, I started my writing journey with a failed story. Weird, right? I tell people all the time that the only way to fail as a writer is to quit. I fully believe that every story has potential, and the worst habit a writer can get into is dumping their current work-in-progress for a…
Month: February 2019
Imagination Buddies
Have I mentioned that I belong to a writing group? Because I belong to a writing group. We’re imagination buddies. It’s the best. Once a month—or two or three months—we get together, eat chocolate, and talk about our lives. And plot points. And stubborn characters who never listen or do the things they’re supposed to…
A Writer’s Guide To Catching Dreams
I’m going to tell you a secret. I have never had a scene or a chapter in my many books come out exactly the way I planned it in my head. Isn’t that strange? Even after seven years of writing, eight books, and nearly two million words, I still can’t capture exactly what it is…
For The Writer Who Doesn’t Like Their Own Writing
Sometimes it’s really hard to like your writing. I think that’s a moment we’ve all hit at one time or another, isn’t it? We stare at a page or even a chapter that we’ve just finished and it just . . . doesn’t work. Something about it is wrong, and maybe we couldn’t even tell…
Planting Seeds
This has been a week of planting seeds. Not real seeds, like in dirt. Because all the dirt in Colorado is frozen. So are the trees. And everything else, including me. It’s snowing outside. Did you know that? I woke up half an hour early this morning because my house was freezing and the…
Ash and Smoke
I buy the kerosene at the shop around the corner. The woman selling it smiles at me, and we talk about the fresh spring weather, the crocuses popping up in her flower beds, and the barges coming down the river from the cities inland. It’ll be a rich year, she tells me. A blessed year….
For The Writer Who Needs Encouragement
Writers need encouragement. Can I get an amen? Writing is hard, it’s lonely, and above all, it’s slow. Slow to finish, slow to see progress, and slow to get any kind of notice. Writers do a lot of work behind closed doors, we spend a lot of time alone, immersed in our worlds and puzzling…
Rottweilers and Writing Companions
This week, I went to visit one of my friends. She lives in town, which is a very long drive from where I hide away in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and she just moved into her beautiful new house. She’s got an enormous tree growing in the front yard, and so, so much painting…
On The Edge Of Living
All men die, I tell them when they ask me why the world ends the way it does. And when they die, they come here. We’re not dead. Not yet. They ask me why that is, but I don’t tell them the reason. I don’t tell them that we’re the forgotten people, the ones sent…
For The Writer Who Doesn’t Have A Routine
This last week, I sat down with one of my writer friends at a coffee shop. We talked for a long time. About everything. Movies we like, story problems, agents and publishers, and life in general. It was wonderful. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the chance to really sit down and have…
