Tools Finding Begeisterung Begeisterung is what artists share over their otherwise endless differences: enthusiasm for a task clearly perceived
Books Techniques of the Selling Writer - Dwight V. Swain A 50’s era pulp writer speed runs your writing knowledge. If I was teaching a college course today on writing fiction, this is the book we’d use as a textbook.
Blog Books for Finding Your Voice A list of intrepid tomes that dare to teach what many say cannot be taught.
Blog Reading Report: October 2025 This Month's reading report features craft articles from Ilona Andrews and C.L. Polk, a 2,000 year-old copper skeletong and 100 word memoirs.
Tools Tool: How and Why to Track Your Writing Whether on paper or a spreadsheet, or on specialized software, keeping track of when, where, and how much you write can help you spot when your writing sweet spots are, and are useful tools for estimating how long a draft will take.
Proof of Work Spiral Story - Rough Draft 1 Rough draft time. My goal at this stage is to get words on paper, whether that's in a notebook or digitally.
Proof of Work Spiral Story - Outline In our last Proof of Work I spent some time describing the ideation process for a short story. This time I’m going to outline it.
Blog Reading Report: September 2025 This month's reading report has a fish committing credit card fraud, doomscroll the game, and some ominous mail from the red cross.
Proof of Work Spiral Story: Ideation Inspired by Meander, Spiral, Explode I'm writing a short story with a spiral plot structure, from idea to final draft.
Books Never Say You Can’t Survive - Charlie Jane Anders If you need a rallying cry or a shoulder to cry on to help you create right now, Never Say You Can’t Survive might be the book you need to read right now.
Tools Firing Chekov's Gun - A Gentleman in Moscow A Gentleman in Moscow contains a set of literal Chekov’s guns, but many of the other objects, people, and places in the story set up the ending. So let's talk about how this type if story is built.