My Twelve Books of Christmas 2025
My Twelve Books of Christmas 2025 It’s that time of year again, where I talk about my favorite books of the year, what I call …
writing
How to Set Up a Revision Journal
How to Set Up a Revision Journal This month’s post is something of a continuation of last month’s post. There I discussed using Sandra Scofield’s …
D is for Dispirited
D is for Dispirited As I was trying to think of a title for this post (my original idea was “When You Want to Look …
East of Eden – Top Shelf
East of Eden – Top Shelf Over at Doorstoppers we tend to read a long classic (or anyway an “older” book) during the summer. I’m …
Creating Alchemy and Suleika Jaouad
Creating Alchemy and Suleika Jaouad One of my all-time favorite memoirs is Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted, by Suleika Jaouad. In …
A Tale of Two Drafters
A Tale of Two Drafters With two books published since October 2021 and a third in final revisions and due out imminently, I decided to …
Trusting the Process
Trusting the Process – Shaun McNiff’s Trust the Process When we get stuck in our own heads, trusting the process is useful advice. Here I …
Death of The Author, by Nnedi Okorafor
Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor A novel-within-a-novel featuring robots who crave stories springboards Zelu, the protagonist of Nnedi Okorafor’s latest book, Death of …
Five Books for Beginners in the New Year
Five Books for Beginners in the New Year We’re coming up on a new year and, if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, …
The Great Train Robbery
The Great Train Robbery and Story Structure I love a good heist film — who doesn’t? — and decided to rewatch 1978’s The Great Train …
Summer of the Lost Summer – How to Rerail the Derail
Summer of the Lost Summer Summer is winding down here and I’ve been trying to deal with a mélange of feelings. Having to cancel all …
The Bee Sting, by Paul Murray
The Bee Sting – A Flaming Arrow to the Heart Paul Murray’s fourth novel, The Bee Sting, follows the Barnes family as they struggle with …
Ordinary People and Story Structure
Ordinary People and Story Structure – Through the Lens of the Hero’s Journey For where I’m at in my creative journey, I feel like trying …
Resolutions and Resistance
Resolutions and Resistance in the New Year New year, new chance to talk about resolutions. And something else: resistance. It’s January, so if you’re into …
Jeff VanderMeer’s Wonderbook
Jeff Vandermeer’s Wonderbook and His Style Scale A recent discussion in one of my book clubs (it’s a closed one, but you can always join …
Gentle Writing Advice and Grab Your Elegant Weapons
Chuck Wendig’s Gentle Writing Advice Summertime is when I often find new craft inspiration. I have access to brick-and-mortar bookstores that have craft books in …
Writing Retreat? How About a Writing Attack Instead?
Summertime and the Living is Easy Summertime and the living is easy, plenty of languor, but you don’t need me to tell you it has …
Scene Analysis – Robert McKee’s Story: Substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting
A Writing Craft All-Star to Beat the Blahs Ever write a scene and it just feels blah? You know it could be good, but it’s …
Trust, by Hernan Diaz, Virtual Reader and Writer Friends IRL
Trust, by Hernan Diaz Made it back from New York City last month with what has to be a new record for me: eight books …
Find Writing Inspiration and Pie Recipes in How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies, by Amy Wallen
How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies Released in October 2022, I ordered Amy Wallen‘s new book, How to Write a Novel in 20 …