Do You Need to Know the Weather in Chicago on March 7, 1930? (Maybe) Research for fiction writing can be both inspiring and overwhelming. It’s easy to fall into the […]
Choosing Your Publishing Path: The Traditional Way or Self-Publish?
Somewhere along the way—usually after a few drafts and a whole lot of soul-searching—every writer faces the same question: Should I try to get a book deal, or should I […]
How a Scrivener Outline Can Rescue Your First Draft
If your manuscript feels more like a pile of spaghetti than a structured story, you are not alone. Many of my writer friends and writers I work with regularly admit […]
Craft Questions in Writing: Do You Really Need That Scene?
In nearly every mastermind session we host inside the Mindful Writing Community, a few familiar questions pop up like clockwork: “Do I really need this flashback?”“Is my first page strong […]
Writing Through the Hardest Scenes: 5 Techniques to Stay Confident
There’s a kind of writing that asks more of us than craft. It asks us to show up emotionally. To stay present with the hard stuff. To touch the places […]
Understanding Why You Avoid Difficult Scenes
There’s a particular kind of stuck that shows up when we approach the most emotionally intense moments in our stories. It’s not the kind of stuck that comes from not […]
From Shi**y First Draft to Something Worth Sharing
If you’ve ever typed “The End” and immediately wanted to hide your manuscript under your bed, you’re in good company. Revising a first draft might be the most daunting part […]