Category: General

It’s 1:34 AM, Eastern Standard Time. I hoped to be asleep exactly one hour and thirty four minutes ago. That has thus far eluded me, so instead I sit here on my bed with music drifting softly from the speakers. I don’t remember the last time I sat awake at […]

I’ve been a long time fan of the Pomodoro Method. The idea is to set a timer (usually for 25 minutes) and do nothing but write. No editing, no social media, no texting. Fingers to keyboard the entire time, shutting out all other distractions. Personally, I listen to music only […]

I’ve spent the past month traveling all over the United States. I’ve got about three more weeks before I go back home for a much-deserved rest. During these travels, I’ve been asked the same question several times: what made you want to become a writer? Every time I hear that […]

This is a writing blog. I talk about writing. Today, I’m going to talk about something more important. You’ll have to forgive me. Early yesterday morning, a gunman walked into a nightclub in Orlando, Florida and opened fire. 49 people lost their lives and more than 5o others were injured. […]

An alternative title could be: “The Magical Power of Headlines.”  During my time in Vietnam, I took a wrong turn down the wrong street. Within a few steps, a girl had split off from her group of friends and approached me. To say this young lady was scantily clad would be […]

Rejection sucks. Period. Whether it’s in the dating world or the writing world, the word “no” carries a particular sting. Every writer is familiar with the phrase, “We regret to inform you…” That’s the point when you stop reading, add it to your pile of letters, and get back to […]

I’m not good enough for the work I’m currently doing. I never can be. Why? Because the same moment I become ‘good enough’ is the moment I become lazy. Your work should always challenge you. For the longest time, I didn’t find my work particularly challenging. It may have been time […]

A strange trend has claimed the modern world, one that I too am guilty of: bragging about how busy you are. Rather than focus on completing tasks and actually being productive, we take a sort of masochistic pride in a heavy workload. I know this from experience; even now, writing […]

Writing as a craft has existed from the first moments man discovered how to scratch symbols into wood and stone. Since that time we have sought to master it and tighten our grasp on the Muse, only to find she is far more slippery than anticipated. As with any skill, a person […]

Hemingway is famed for saying, “Writing is easy. You just sit at a typewriter and bleed.” But what if that isn’t enough? What if a publisher rejects a manuscript stained with eight pints of your blood? Do you drop to the ground, white as a sheet, and die? No. You […]