The last day

This year I finished a novel, wrote and mostly edited a novella, wrote a number of short stories that I forgot to keep track of, made a blog post every day this year, read/listened to 34 novels, and helped start an online magazine. It's been a productive year for writing! Best novel I read this year: …

Thought is a luxury we should not take for granted.

Sometimes we all feel like we have no time to relax and think. But imagine for a moment a field worker or a miner or any other manual laborer, living just a couple centuries ago. Such a person probably didn't know how to read, or not how to read for enjoyment. They worked day all …

What are your resolutions?

To write more? I bet one of them is to write more. All us writers tend to make that resolution every year. But the trick to keeping those resolutions is to make your goal something measurable, and achievable. For example, no nebulous 'write more' goals. Pick something solid like 'write a story each month' or …

Is writing too easy?

I got this fancy pen from my sister for Christmas, and it's made me think a bit about writing. Back when this was the most modern tool for creating fiction, writers had to be very careful with what they wrote, had to be at a desk, with ink and paper, and so on, and had …

Why do we hate the poor?

The plight of the Joads in this story makes me think of how we treat refugees, homeless people, and any other needy people in this country. The family in this story has been kicked off their farm by the corporation that owns it, and along with thousands of other families is fleeing across the country …