Today’s watercolor. Formula, formula, formula. Today, we’re going to continue on from last week’s post, Writing Rules: How & Why We Play ‘Follow the Reader’ and keep parsing Commenter Sonja’s excellent question. For those who have slept since then… I get the feeling as a new author that we’re being encouraged to adhere to certain Read more

Writing rules tend to make newbies break out in hives. New writers, as I once did, believe that the word ‘rules’ automatically implies creativity is somehow stymied and worry the art will not flow. Today, hopefully, I’ll show you not only why writing rules are so important, but why the rules are not necessarily about Read more

Neurodivergent is a buzz word that’s taken off in the past decade. The term applies to a broad spectrum of people who are, for whatever reason, not normal. Those who ‘suffer’ from ADD, ADHD, OCD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, etc. are all on the list. For those who don’t know or haven’t guessed, I’m on the autistic Read more

Mastery is a concept that many believe is subjective, especially when it comes to writing (novels in particular). There’s an insidious belief that what constitutes good or bad is a matter of popular opinion. Quality isn’t something we can measure. This belief—that mastery is a matter of taste—has been around as long as the publishing Read more

Original Image courtesy of David HT Flikr Creative Commons… Fast drafting is a technique that I have used successfully on quite a few books. What is fast drafting? Fast drafting is when we sit down and write a book within a given amount of time. It can be as short as two weeks, but I Read more

Boutique businesses are on the rise in the digital age. What does ’boutique’ mean? Essentially, small is now big. Instead of people relying solely on a handful of major brands, the marketplace has shifted from the macro to the micro. Yes, plenty of people still pick up a Brad Thor in the airport. Just like Read more

Weakness is inherent to the human condition. No one is always strong all the time and in every way. Last post, we dove into the deep dark waters of the narcissist. Namely, we explored one of their more common tools for manipulation—gaslighting. Obviously, I recommend going back to check out the post. But, for brevity’s Read more

‘Gaslighting’ is a term I’ve used for YEARS. Oddly, however, until recently, almost nobody knew what the heck I was talking about. I would have to explain about the movie from the 1940s, based off a 1938 play Gas Light. Anyway, it would just turn into a rambling conversation almost as awkward as when I Read more

Over 40 countries have a day to celebrate ‘mother’ and ‘mother figures’ with some variation of Mother’s Day. While millions of people will send flowers and gifts and take their moms, grandmothers, aunts, etc. out for a fancy day, other folks might struggle…a lot. People can feel a wide variety of emotions when it comes Read more

Small steps are the most essential for achieving anything in life, yet they’re also the most underestimated. They are too easy to overlook or dismiss. Unlike when we were kids, no one is handing out stickers or scented erasers to reward us for a day well done. There’s no list on the wall showcasing the Read more