Struggling with identity tends to be a matter of active mindfulness. I wrote my first 50-page, hand-illustrated sci-fi novel when I was 9. The next was 36-pages, typed single-spaced, when I was 13 or so. After that, I wrote on and off, in fits and spurts. But writing was always the focal point of my…
Are You Ready for November and The Start of Another NaNoWriMo? NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writer’s Month – has begun again. In 2004 or 2005, I was introduced to National Novel Writer’s Month – NaNoWriMo. Every November, NaNoWriMo is a challenge to reach 50,000 words of writing in 30 days. While that’s a lot of…
You won’t fail if you don’t share what you create – but you won’t succeed, either. Sharing your work can be terrifying. It can feel like you’re putting yourself out there to be judged. I write and post blogs 4 days a week. In addition, I do a podcast once a week. Then, because that’s…
Since this comes up from time to time, I’m sharing advice I offer other writers. On Facebook, I’m in multiple writing groups. No matter what subject or genre, there are a group of questions that come up frequently about pausing, rewriting, editing, story order, writing as a pantser vs planner, and other niggling details relevant…
As a writer, writing more books is what I do. With more books comes more exposure. As part of my newfound self-advocacy, I’m going to share where I am, where I’ve been, and where I’m going with my writing career. Where have I been? I often share that I started to write sci-fi when I…
It’ll be an interesting challenge for me to pick up where I left off. I began writing my Source Chronicles fantasy series in 1998. It began with a scene out of classic epic fantasy: A lone sorcerer in flowing robes, staff raised, throwing his power around. It wasn’t long before there were more scenes, more…
Banning books and other arts does harm to us all. Why did I only just learn about Banned Books Week? That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I would like to share some thoughts I have on this topic. Both as a writer and reader, I am totally against banning books. Censorship of this…
The arts bring out the best of what our world can be. The last few years have been extra crazy. Between the pandemic, increasing political partisanship, the growing lack of kindness, compassion, and empathy among our so-called leaders, and markets gone haywire – the world has felt more and more oppressive. Through it all, however,…
After I reach “the end” of a project, it’s time to work on the next. I just finished writing the first novel in my new Savagespace sci-fi saga. There are 6 total novels plotted for this series. With Alliances done, there are 5 more to go. Not counting my non-fiction – this is my 16th…
That depends on the situation and the questions asked. Storytelling has been my passion pretty much all my life. Informally, I started telling stories when I was very, very small. I still remember – when I was probably 4 years old – sitting at the windowsill in our living room. But in my imagination –…
