Clik here to view.
Writing Advice for Fools
image by Gary Ging Happy April Fools’ Day! In honor of the holiday, I’ll be giving highly prescriptive, condescending writing advice that sets arbitrary limits, reinforces inflexible constraints, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Making Room for Silence
image by Giulia van Pelt One of the secrets to balancing a busy life is doing more than one thing at a time. We listen to audiobooks while we drive, manage a hands-off dinner with our Instant Pots,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s Always in the Last Place You Look
Image by chrisxx64 My five-year-old chose a Little Mermaid birthday cake this year solely for the toy it came with: a little plastic Ariel riding a little plastic ocean wave. To minimize chaos at the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Novelist’s Necessary Evils
There are plenty of great things about writing and publishing novels. But today, I’m not here to discuss any of them. No, today it’s time to talk about three of the necessary evils a novelist deals...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Writing, Verbs and Time
image by Stereo Phonik Is there anything more precious to a writer than time? It’s the resource that makes all the difference. Time to think. Time to write. Time to edit. Time with readers. And we need...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Stories We Tell Ourselves
image by Guido Klumpe Success in publishing is always at least partly a matter of luck. The writing itself, we can largely control: our minds gin up the premise, our will drives the process, our hands...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Getting Comfortable With Failure
As writers and as people, most of us have been told over and over again to push ourselves. You don’t know what you’re capable of until you try! Reach for the stars! Writers often set ambitious goals —...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is Writing Work?
I’m tempted, of course, to make this the shortest Writer Unboxed post in history. (“Is writing work? Yes.” Done!)Writing is work. Hard work, sometimes. Frustrating and challenging and exhausting, yes,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
One Way to Make Everything Better
image by Dimitris Kalogeropoylos There are no easy answers in writing and publishing, right? When I went through some of the biggest changes in my writing career — for example, getting an agent, or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Future of Politics in Novels
At the time I write this, we have no idea what the political future of America looks like: with the conclusion of voting in the 2020 U.S. election imminent on November 3rd, I’d venture to say no...
View Article