Happy Independence Day month! Okay, it's still a couple of days away, but I'm impatient. This blog is, in part, an apology for my horizons having been too narrow for too long. I’m gonna confess something that if you’ve been reading my other blogs, you probably surmised anyway. I am often exacting and particular in … Continue reading Independence Day!
Monsters in Love
Monsters in Love Agent Shakespeare has fallen in love. If you’ve ever watched a James Bond movie, you’ll know that secret agents and deeply committed romances don’t end well. Shakespeare handles human intelligence for her team. She is an expert at setting honey traps and willing to follow through with anything her target wants … Continue reading Monsters in Love
Write Your Novel in 3 Easy Steps
It’s important to have a writing process to remain disciplined, and since the stay at home orders, it’s been hard to maintain. In fact, if not for the due dates on my syllabus I’d have no clue about time and date. From what I’ve seen, mine is not an isolated problem; a lot of writers … Continue reading Write Your Novel in 3 Easy Steps
Meet my other personalities
Here’s a little-known fact about me: I play tabletop role playing games (RPG’s). Yup, I’m one of those kinds of dorks, and a friend of mine asked me to blog for his new gaming website, The Adventure Nexus. I’ve decided to stick those blogs here as well, since my role playing directly impacts my writing. … Continue reading Meet my other personalities
Don’t make me hit you with my writer’s block.
One of the questions I get in interviews or see all the time in writer chat groups is, “How do I contend with ‘writer’s block?’." I have learned the hard way not to answer that question. It’s a trap. Most indie or untrained writers, it seems, see this as an opportunity to pontificate, and they … Continue reading Don’t make me hit you with my writer’s block.
Still Here!
First of all, happy New Year (as it were). I’ve been waiting to post since my website’s going to transition to another host any day now...since February. I’m done waiting. I miss you guys. I don’t know about you, but I’m fairly terrified of the world right now as I sit here in quarantine. So … Continue reading Still Here!
Time to Pull Up My Pants
That was not cool, guys. So, when I last left this blog, the W.I.S.E. team was staring me down angrily, waiting for me to write, regardless of my pantsless, meticulous outline. My editor had strongly suggested I abandon my pantser (as in, seat of one’s pants, making things up as I go along) style of … Continue reading Time to Pull Up My Pants
Gratitude
I’m back! There are only three weeks left in the semester, and I’m ready to get back to writing, as well as catching up on my stack of books. Since we’re about to observe Thanksgiving, and since my birthday is also in November, I thought I’d offer a few words of thanks. I’ve decided to … Continue reading Gratitude
I’ve gotta put a ball gag on my monkey mind
I have been remiss in my blogging! September came crashing in, and nearly ran me over. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But, I’m teaching writing at the College of Southern Maryland again, and have a larger course load than usual. Two classes amount to forty essays employing different rhetorical devices for argumentation every … Continue reading I’ve gotta put a ball gag on my monkey mind
I’ve Lost My Pants
It’s one of the perennial questions indie writers like to ask each other: outline a novel ahead of the composition, or make things up as you go along? Do you plan everything ahead, or write by the seat of your pants? Are you a plotter or a panster? In my experience this is a question … Continue reading I’ve Lost My Pants
