Jackson Pollock’s Fruit Salad
Normally at the beginning of the year I have a pretty good idea of what my career goals will be. This year my goal was to survive the Anthology Workshop at the end of February, hopefully selling a...
View ArticleGoals vs. Objectives – Who is Really In Control?
“No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.” ~Helmuth von Moltke I am highly motivated by progress and will often get frustrated when I feel like I am spinning my wheels in a task. This probably...
View ArticleCracking the Whip: Hard Enough, But Not Too Hard
A Guest Post by Travis Heermann Discipline. A professional writing career lives and dies by discipline—or the lack thereof. Maybe you have talent, but talent is only the beginning. There’s honing one’s...
View ArticleWhat I Set Out to Do: Closing the Door on 2014
With one day left in the year, I think it’s safe to say I will not achieve the goals I set out for myself in 2014. I was hoping to complete three books, and instead I completed precisely zero. This...
View ArticleFan to Writer: An Online Meeting with Rowling Herself
A Guest Post by J.J. Bennett Back in 2001, I had knee surgery. Looking back now, I’d say that it changed my life. It was December and a friend suggested I read the Harry Potter books to pass the time...
View ArticleLive Deliberately
Several times now I have had the profound experience of listening to famed author and illustrator, James A. Owen give his incredible lecture titled, “Drawing Out the Dragons.” There were many great...
View ArticleMy Last Thought
A Guest Post by Darin Calhoun April 2002, I was driving to work on the 210 Freeway, just passing Irwindale, when I glanced at my rear view mirror and saw a white, Scully, Semi-Truck. My Last thought...
View ArticleWhy I Write
A Guest Post by R.J. Terrell There is a fundamental reason behind most of the things we do in life. The larger, or more significant the activity, the core value or reason will correspond. This base, or...
View ArticleYour Support Net (Work)
A writing community is made up of lots of different people with different life experiences, different skills, and different connections. If we were all the same, maybe community wouldn’t be so...
View ArticleHow to Set an Unconventional Writing Schedule
If you have read anything by me on this blog before this post, you know I’m all about the unconventional way of doing things. What works for one person might not work for me, and similarly, what works...
View ArticlePages of Inspiration: Books for Writers
The creative well runs dry. The heart is as desiccated and desolate as a dusty Old West street, because you’re certain your Work in Progress is utter cowflop. You shout into the endless black void,...
View ArticleFinding the Way Out of the Suck
I have a confession to make. I have not written one productive word in about a year or so. Oh, I’ve tossed down words for new ideas and gone over my current WIP, but I accomplished nothing of any...
View ArticleScientist or Writer? Why Not Both!
You wouldn’t believe how many times people have told me that I couldn’t possibly be a writer. NO! Nathan, you’re an engineer, a scientist. And everybody knows that those sciencey types aren’t creative....
View ArticleMeet the Fictorians: Frank Morin
“Come in, — come in! and know me better, man!” -Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol We’d love for you, our wonderful readers, to get to know us better. That’s why, each month, Kristin Luna will...
View ArticleWriters Are People Too!
Have you ever noticed how we tend to speak of our time as if it were a commodity? Just look at the verbs we use! We spend time, we save time, and we waste time. At work, we earn time off and are paid...
View ArticleChasing a Dream and the Temptation to Work Yourself to Death
A day doesn’t go by when one of my writer friends proudly proclaims online, “It’s 3am, I should sleep but I just need to finish this scene. I’ll rest when I’m dead.” It’s almost like a badge of honor...
View ArticleWriting is Life
A Guest Post from Scott Lee I pulled in to the house, just back from my third time attending the Superstars Writing Seminar. I had spent the ride home rehearsing the arguments I would present to my...
View ArticleGreat Expectations: A Guest Post by Matthew Becket
A guest post by Matthew Becket. Two incredible visuals pop into my head when I think of the writers’ life—George McFly opening a box of books at the end of Back to the Future and Jack Torrance...
View ArticleFinding Your Cheerleader
Considering the subject of this post, I’m pretty sure to earn myself some flack so let’s just cover the “role” biases right off. For over fifteen years of my marriage, I chose to be a stay-at-home mom....
View ArticleMaking Tea…and time to write.
Here’s a stupid joke: “How do you identify a writer in a crowd?” You call out “Shut up and write!” and wait for them to wail back “But I don’t have the tiiime!” Haha, I’m so funny. But also, I’m that...
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