Write for the job you want, not the one you have There's an expression that says, "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have," and it applies well to your writing life. Even though you're just starting out, you likely know where you ultimately want to be. You...

Consider yourself warned: There's a point, usually around the halfway point of your story but not always, when you will hit a moment of crisis. This story is a mess, my writing is awful, the characters are flat and dull, and the whole thing is falling apart. Why am I...

It was summer. My daughter was five years old and just learning to go underwater. All-day long she'd done tentative little dips, dunking her face, sliding across the surface of the water. Then she dropped her goggles. She lunged for them, but it was too late. Down...

While people often use the terms interchangeably when talking about writing or anything creative, there's a big difference between a dream and a goal. A dream is a fantasy, a mental picture of how we wish it could be. A goal is a tangible thing you can work toward in...

Ask any writer why they write, and you'll get dozens of different answers. Some use it for therapy or meditation. For others, it's a job or side hustle to earn some extra income. Many writers write to share their story or to make sure the world has the stories they...

Don't get ahead of yourself In an old Garfield book we had growing up, there's a week-long gag about him becoming a writer. In one comic, he says something like, "Lots of people say they want to write a book, but very few actually do something about it." The punchline...

For years, I thought I could only write if I had the perfect circumstances. My favorite mood-setting music, my special writing spot in an inspirational setting and at least three hours of uninterrupted time. I rejected so many perfectly good moments when I could have...