When a writer tells me they're doing research, I confess that most of the time I assume that they're procrastinating. I suppose I make that assumption because that's what I do. Why do I procrastinate, or rather, do research when I should be writing? Lack of confidence. I don't feel qualified, don't feel grounded in […]

I apologize for the long silence. I have no worthy excuse. We're all busy. I should have made more time. Innocence & Silence is live, by the way. I thought I'd concluded the best and worst times of Mark's life, and set up a villain for the next series, which I intended to feature a […]

While in Seattle I had the privilege of learning a little short blade (short sword and knife) with someone who has unbelievable talent. Maija opened my eyes to a new world, one that I had touched the edges of while training in various martial arts, but never truly understood until she put a practice weapon […]

A lot of writers write to music, and many develop soundtracks that help center them in their work and help them get into a deep flow state. I've been guilty of that myself. I don't know if many writers do what I do, though. I think I read about it on another writer's blog recently, […]

Actually, it's the beginning of a new book. And the ending of it. I just finished writing the rough draft of the first book of The Poisoned Past Trilogy, tentatively called The Voice of Hearts, potentially being followed by The Voice of Minds and The Voice of Souls. There's always this combination of a sense […]

Sorry for the long silence. I've been in an intense work cycle. It took some serious, focused work to get through. Most writers have a section in their writing where things bog down, usually in the middle of their plot. I've heard it called the muddle in the middle a lot. I'm sure there are […]

I haven't been idle. Against my better judgement, I've started on another trilogy in the jesters universe. The Poisoned Past trilogy begins with a yet-unnamed first book. I'm 34,000 words into it and I haven't named it. Right now that doesn't seem like too bad of a problem. I'm having way too much fun, if […]

A character, with a problem, in a place. How and where to put setting into an opening can be tricky. Luckily, there are a lot of ways to do it, and none of them are better or worse than another. Is your character alone? That's a choice, not something that has to be set in […]

There are lots of ways to begin a story, including lots of creative ways that have nothing to do with a character. If you open with setting, that setting has to have attitude, voice, opinion–in short, a life of its own. Which makes it a character. In fact, I recently read an excellent book in […]

Every so often I get, not so much a question, but a comment that is trying to gather the courage to become a question. Someone will say something like, I've always wanted to write X, but I wouldn't even know where to start. I tried to help one lovely person who has a very interesting […]