6
06, 2017
Cancer: one hell of a plot twist
When I first caught wind of the One Million Project, my first thought was how the One Million Project and One Million Words, my publishing company, might work together.
10
12, 2015
A different class of writing
I had the pleasure of talking with students at Waupun High School yesterday. My mission: to share my educational background, professional writing experiences, writing advice, and tips for getting published with the fledgling writers.
30
12, 2014
Should you care if readers care about your characters?
The more I think about it, the more a term like “character-oriented” seems superfluous. Characters are but one element of a story. Like setting and plot, they are essential ingredients of a story. But are they any more important than the rest?
18
09, 2014
An old short story for Throwback Thursday
Back when I worked in a newsroom, a colleague of mine was wont to say, “Everyone loves old photos.” I believe the Throwback Thursday (#TBT) trend serves as further proof of mankind’s fondness for looking back.
18
09, 2013
REJECTION!
Nothing is certain except death and taxes, according to Benjamin Franklin. But if you’re a writer, you can add rejection to that list.
22
08, 2013
Building a better book title
Titles represent anywhere from a few hundred to hundreds of thousands of words. They have to be worthy of all that hard work you put into your short story, novella or novel. And they must be marketable.
19
03, 2013
Choose your own adventure (please!)
Remember those old Choose Your Own Adventure books? The ones where you controlled a character’s destiny and guided the direction of the narrative? I’m conducting an experiment that brings that old series of children’s books to mind...
29
01, 2013
Anyone can write a short story (except me)
It’s a piece of advice I’ve heard on many occasions: short stories first, then novels.
12
07, 2012
Battling genre bias with the magic of an open mind
Reading books with dragons on the cover says something about a guy.
16
04, 2012
A very different kind of ‘Hunger Games’
While weighing the pros and cons of offering sample chapters of my as-of-yet-unpublished works of fiction on this website, it occurred to me that there could be little harm in posting a short story that could never be published anywhere other than a blog.