Just stopping by to let you know I haven’t abandoned you. I’m just still super-busy with editing projects, as well as caring for my granddaughter, Harper. I have more things to say, and I’ll say them when I can. Meanwhile, read the archives, write your books, and eat lots of [insert your favorite food here].

I haven’t posted here in a while, and I suspect it will be a while yet before I give you a helpful writerly post. But I have posted on my other blog, the creative writing one. It’s a tribute to the man who, along with his wife, inspired my love for stories: my father. Feel free to read about him. You’ll wish you’d known him. Superhero (A True Story)

I’m running a Goodreads contest over on my Stolen Things website. Oh, you didn’t know I had a webpage for my novel? Yeah. I haven’t told many people about it yet. Stop on by and enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of Stolen Things. And tell all your friends about the contest. Tweet about it. Post a link on Facebook. Whisper it into the dark abyss of your dreams. Here’s the link again in case you didn’t notice it above. Have a lovely day.

Step 1. Read. Step 2. Write. Step 3. Go back to Step 1. I”ll be back with a slightly more thoughtful post soon. Meanwhile, have fun getting stuck in this loop.  

You have a brilliant opening paragraph. I mean Pulitzer Prize brilliant.* But somewhere around page [insert number here], the story begins to drag. I mean dead-body-up-a-steep-hill drag. Never fear, I’m here to help. (Not with the body-dragging. I have a bad back.) Step One: Get a 12-sided die. (Ask your table-gaming friend. If you casually refer to it as a d12 he’ll invite you to join him next Friday in his parents’ basement for a rousing game of Pokéthulhu. You’re welcome.) Step Two: Roll the 12-sided die. Note the number. Step Three: Choose the associated item from the Action List below and incorporate it into your novel. Step Four: Enjoy your…

The writer community is a lot like a high school cafeteria. Not because of the food (although your w.i.p. diet of Cheetos and Dr. Pepper does bring back fond and/or frightening adolescent memories), but because of the cliques. For the purpose of this blogpost, we’ll use a different term: Tables of Earned Privilege. Chances are you’re sharing a Table of Earned Privilege with Writers of Similar Experience. Let’s say you’re a self-published author. I mean the kind who hires an editor and a cover designer and a copyeditor and cares enough to produce something of quality, not the kind who throws a first draft at Amazon and suddenly thinks himself…