Q: How do you push yourself to improve as a writer? Do you have any tips for us writers who are just starting out?*

A: Read. Everything. Seriously, reading a ton of fiction is a fiction writer’s number one job, … Read more

To help YOU go write today, I’ll share my number 1, go-to method of getting my style muscles in condition.

There is something to be said for having a shock-proof shit detector that can be turned “off” for the purposes … Read more

I reader recently emailed me to ask about the most-read articles on this blog. (Thanks for your question, Christy!) Here are the ten most popular posts, in reverse order to maximize suspense.

10. Five reasons NOT to self-publish your novel as … Read more

For me a first draft is like that impossibly slow climb to the top of a roller coaster… a roller coaster from hell that keeps getting higher and higher so that you spend WEEKS thinking, I’m almost there… I’m just … Read more

Anybody who’s remotely paying attention should know that I love Scrivener. I’m near evangelical about its virtues for everything from novel-writing to blog-touring to academic blah organizing. (Yes, my academic blahs need to be organized.)

But there’s something that … Read more

I’m in the middle of living something new: writing hungry.

I’ve always seen the idea of the starving artist as an unnecessary cliché, but I’m as close as I will likely ever be to living it. (I certainly hope this … Read more

What can you do in those infamous fifteen minutes of writing each day (the daily chunk of time I had for writing most of What Can’t Wait and The Knife and the Butterfly)? And what if you’re not in the … Read more

A while ago I wrote about how Scrivener was the perfect tool for drafting a novel. I need to revise that statement. Scrivener is the best electronic tool. Why the qualification? Because ordinary paper always, always calls me back. 

Scrivener … Read more

In case you missed it, I was recently tangled up in a lovely crazy quilt: an interview with fabulous librarian, writer, and blogger Edi Campbell. Check it out here to learn about why I played hooky, the best of Paris, … Read more

Here’s the full Q: How do you work writing into your life?  I often find myself without any time to write, or if I do have the time, I am not in the “zone”. I am tired, or worn, and so … Read more