Creatives have used kindness and compassion across all of history to tell their stories. Why do creatives create? I believe it’s because we have vision, passion, and energy inside of us that we need to share. It’s a compulsion not unlike breathing. You put the words on the page or screen, ink or paint on…
I am deeply distressed by the news today. One reason I am so deeply distressed is that there is, realistically, little to nothing I can do about it. I can vote, attend protests, and offer my support to those most impacted by these developments. That written, I can also do this: As a white, middle-aged,…
There is something to be said for both choosing to wing it and planning. For most of my writing career, I have been a pantser. If you are unfamiliar with this term, what it means is that I mostly write by the seat of my pants. I sit down at the keyboard, take an idea…
If you desire to create, please find a way to create. The world needs more creatives in it. The world progresses via creativity. Whether it’s the arts or sciences – creativity and all that it might produce expands human knowledge, grows our understanding within and without, and changes the world for the better. Sadly, there…
Do you have chittering brain weasels messing with you? Confession time. While I can put on an excellent façade of confidence and self-assurance – I am in an ongoing war with self-doubt, my self-worth, and the like. This is a war I’ve been fighting all my life. Though I win many of the battles of…
If you think I’m writing to you – I am. Let’s address the 4 things you’re afraid of. Writing is something lots of people dream of doing. While the process comes easier to some of us than to others – that doesn’t mean it doesn’t scare you. I’ve known lots of would-be writers who are…
Some days you flow better than others with your work. Now that I’ve completed my Void Incursion sci-fi series – apart from editing and then having the book professionally edited – I’m done with the writing I’ve been doing. I am not, of course, done. As I’ve written before, I have planned out 10 more…
How my nonfiction and fiction connect define my overall brand. I began writing fiction some forty years ago. I was 9. That first work of sci-if – called Wildfire – was imaginative and literally colorful (hand-written and illustrated by me). But it might also have caused some psychologists to question my mindset (spoiler alert: The…
Exploring the process of homing in on my target audience. Realizing some of my limitations regarding marketing my brand – and taking a direction I’ve deeply desired to go for a while – I have a new coach. As we work on building some new tools to help me expand my brand and drive this…
I get to choose if I should work in a familiar or unfamiliar setting. For a long time, I really, really wanted to write a sci-fi epic. Nothing stuck in my mind to drive it. As a pantser (one who writes by the seat of their pants), I never had that flash of, “yes, this!”…
