One bite at a time. I’m in the midst of revising what will be my 12th published book, and with my deadline looming it seems like a good time to g̶e̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ talk about how I deal with editorial notes! The notes I have before me are in the…

Two questions to ask yourself. I was recently talking about New Year’s goals and resolutions with a group of friends. They had a lot of specifics — career milestones to hit, new things to try, bucket-list items to cross off. As I’d been thinking about my own goals for the…

The process is messier than we’d like Yesterday I was talking to a coaching client who had a hard few weeks finding time to write. A spouse’s changing job schedule, raising a young child, work, and living with extended family all kept interrupting. …

Writer edition! In search of minimalism As I write this, I just off a somewhat unintentional full month off of Twitter and Instagram — without cheating! When I started, I didn’t really plan it out. I only knew I was very short on mental peace in a way that was affecting my ability to…

Thoughts for volatile times. I recently finished spending about nine days in residency with an MFA program I work for. I met the students I’ll be working with this semester, taught a couple of seminars, and ran student workshops. …

It might be the most important tool you can develop as a novelist. I’m the kind of writer who needs a good editor. My early drafts of novels are far from the absolute masterworks you see before you when you read one of my finished books. In my unpolished versions…

It’s a legit way to become a writer. Once upon a time in the not so distant past, there was no such thing as a creative writing MFA program. It’s true! …

You are not a machine. I’m a professional writer. I’ve written ten traditionally-published books in the last fifteen years, and one self-published book. That seems like a lot. It is a lot! Yet I always feel like I should be doing more. So I’ve tried every hack and process and…

Who does it sound like? I was talking to a client the other day who struggles with perfectionism and how it can keep them from* getting writing done. They described a mean inner voice that tells them everything they write sucks. In a different conversation, they’d mentioned some details about…