TFW your whole life changes-- AKA The Writing Excuses Retreat 2017

So a big thing happened back in April. I knew it was a big thing, but I don't think I ever fully comprehended exactly how life-changing it would be. That thing was: I won a scholarship to the Writing Excuses Retreat. On a cruise ship. On the Baltic Sea in Europe. When I got the...

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The Truth of the Matter: The Give and Take of Writing as a Job

Here's the truth of the matter: I have not written consistently for well over a year. This doesn't mean I haven't written. I've written whenever I darn well pleased. Which was sometimes every day for weeks. And sometimes once every other month. At first, I felt guilty. Real writers...

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Salt Lake Comic Con 2016

I'm off to Salt Lake Comic Con today. Shout out to me if you're going to be there too! Here's my panel schedule, so if you'll be there pop by to say hi and grab some free swag from THE UNHAPPENING OF GENESIS LEE! Thursday: 2 PM The Bard in the Stars: Shakespeare and Star Trek, Room...

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Breaking the Laws of Nature: Writers as Wizard-Gods of Storytelling (or, This is Why Writing is Hard)

Here’s the truth: writing is hard. That first draft you're writing? Hard. The revisions you're pounding through? Hard. The creation of characters, the building of a plot, the painting of the setting? Hard, hard, hard. But here’s the other truth about writing: creating something...

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For the Times When You Want to Give Up on Writing

It's one of the most common questions to writers. Why do you write? ask fellow writers and confused family members and school children and crit partners and fans and random people on the internet. People write blog posts and have Twitter conversations about it. We try to explain...

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My best writing advice: Do whatever the hell you want

I've been teaching a lot lately-- at school visits, at conferences, even at church. (Granted, I don't teach a lot about writing at church.) And it's made me think a lot about all the advice offered at conferences and on blog posts and from people asking "What's your best writing...

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One of Those Days: Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month

I woke up this morning, and my legs weren't working right. For the last two years, ever since I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, I've had a morning routine that starts with laying in bed and calculating the feeling in each part of my body. Sometimes it stops with, "I slept...

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