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The Writing Life

A quick way to prepare for writing success in the new year

This article originally appeared in the newsletter of the Phoenix Screenwriters Association. To sign up for their newsletters, filled with screenwriting tips and industry news, go here. The start of a new year is a good time to sit and ruminate on yourself, your writing, and the state of your

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The Writing Life

Seven reasons to write short stories

In my reading nook with two of my favorite short story collections by Alice Munro and Ottessa Moshfegh I think I might be accidentally writing a book. About a year ago, I wrote a short story, just on a creative impulse. I was in a weird place personally and emotionally,

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The Writing Life

Eight tools from fiction to make you a better screenwriter

This article originally appeared in the newsletter of the Phoenix Screenwriters Association. To sign up for their newsletters, filled with screenwriting tips and industry news, go here. After studying and practicing screenwriting for years, and working in TV development in Los Angeles, I decided to try something new, and wrote

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The Writing Life

Why is imposter syndrome so common among writers?

This post is an expansion of an article I originally wrote for Charlotte Lit’s Lit Bits series in their newsletter. For more on Charlotte Lit, including info on an intro to screenwriting course I’ll be teaching for them in February 2023, check out their website. There are a lot of

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The Writing Life

The Two Types of Suspense, and How to Create Them

Even if you’re not writing a story that one would typically think of as suspenseful—say a mystery, or thriller, or horror piece—you probably do want to keep your readers in suspense. Think of suspense as the invisible fishing wire pulling readers through from paragraph to paragraph, chapter to chapter. If

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The Writing Life

Loving the Box: How to find inspiration in your limits

The career of a writer is often a case of hurry up and wait. Or more accurately, wait and hurry up. You work on project after project on your own, for free, with no deadlines except those you impose on yourself. This can go on for years. Then, something happens:

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Random Ramblings

The Iceberg

I have a love-loathe relationship with social media. I’ve met some incredibly cool people through it, but for every one of them, there’s a hundred randos and spammers. There’s an abundance of cute animal content, but for every snoring Frenchie, there’s an ill-founded political screed. Social media is a wonderful

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Random Ramblings

It’s okay to opt out

I have a confession to make. Several times a week, people will recommend things to me: books, TV series, movies, podcasts, articles. These things always sound interesting, and I always say “Ooh, that sounds so good! I’ll check it out!” And I mean it, I really do. I want to

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The Writing Life

Why to join a writers’ group – and how

This article was originally written as a guest post for the Charlotte Readers Podcast. Visit their blog for more literary reflections from a variety of writers! There’s a stereotype that writers are solitary creatures whose only contact with the outside world is to gaze contemplatively out windows. I can confirm

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