I have many ongoing projects and new ideas happening in various stages. Sometimes, they just won’t shut up! Who are they? The voices in my head. Now, before you dismiss me as crazy, allow me to clarify: the characters for the fiction I write are alive in my mind. They exist in the world I…
Whatever form it takes, a book you create is awesome. While writing comes relatively easily to me – I know it is harder for others. This includes people who have a story to tell and desire to see their words in print. It may take a long time, a whole lot of effort, and tremendous…
Fear will lie to you a lot. But don’t let it stop your work. Over the last year or so, I’ve joined several groups on Facebook. They each have a different flavor of relation to writing. Some are nonfiction, some fiction, some specifically sci-fi and fantasy. One thing I see frequently is the fears of…
Persistence is the key to accomplishing everything. But how does it work? When I was younger, I jokingly referred to myself, more than once, as The King of Indecision. I spent a lot of my 20s and 30s being indecisive. I would stall, delay, and avoid choices and decisions frequently. Why? Because I didn’t want…
What does it take to get your brand noticed? While I have been writing for nearly 40 years, I didn’t get professionally published until I had the opportunity for a couple of short stories to be published in anthologies. That began in 2011 – ten years ago. I dipped my toe into the self-publishing waters…
What inspires will be variable but is always important. No matter what projects I am working on, I often look for inspiration. Even when I am striving to inspire – I need to find things to inspire me. This is especially important when you are not in a good headspace, or otherwise contending with unpleasant…
Ignoring content will be to your detriment. Yes, I write a lot. I blog 6 days a week, plus my podcast and my fiction works. I probably write on the order of 3000 words a day. Six days a week that’s 18,000 words a week. For the sake of argument, let’s decrease that to 15,000…
Recording an audiobook has unique challenges. Back in college, I was a DJ on both campus radio stations. One of the stations – with a full FM broadcast signal – was one of the most popular in the college town. Even the larger university in town didn’t have a following nor presence as we did….
Book smarts and street smarts both have a place in our lives. I think I was in high school when I started playing Dungeons and Dragons. Given my deep love of sci-fi and fantasy, D&D fueled that. I mean, c’mon, who doesn’t want to roleplay a mighty warrior wielding a sword, a sneaky thief, or…
When it comes to being a brand, it’s not just writing that creates the whole package. In case I haven’t made this abundantly clear – I love writing. Even though I knew this at an early age, I listened to the messages and opinions of others. They looked like this: writing never pays, only a…
