This evening’s writing session is brought to us by thunderstorms.I have an app on my phone where I’ve put together a mix of storm sounds. I play this when I’m writing my draft. The irony, as I realized during tonight’s actual thunderstorm, is that real storms don’t calm me down. I love them, but I’m usually …

While walking today along a path I’ve taken many times, it occurred to me that writing is like my walks. Even when I’m going down the same path – building characters, developing plot, filling in details – I always find something new and exciting.I never know what I’ll find on my walk. Like the sunlight hitting …

I’m at that point in my writing where I focus on making the villain as strong a character as possible. To help me with that, I’m brushing up on my writing craft. Which includes reading 13 Steps to Evil: How to Craft Superbad Villains by Sacha Black.Because how can there be strong conflict without a powerful …

My discounted year of Masterclass ends tomorrow. Since I’m not going to renew, I’ve been watching as many videos on writing and creativity as I can fit into my day. For the most part, I’ve watched entire classes. However, today in particular, I’ve been skipping around. Then I landed on a class that I’m absolutely loving: Issa …

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that one of the problems in my first drafts is that I raise the plot stakes for the characters too quickly, leaving little room for escalation.  I jokingly refer to this problem as the nuclear war problem, because the only option left for an exciting climax …

I do not understand transport company logic. I ordered an item from Georgia in the United States. When I checked the shipping update, I discovered that instead of it being sent straight up the east coast, which is the most direct route, it was at a facility in Texas.That is halfway across the country from where …