In some ways, the first draft is the hardest one.  It is a place where characters you have just met take over the page and force you to travel with them to unfamiliar locations boasting societies completely foreign to you.  Somehow, you are expected to forge forward, despite the inevitable culture shock and vertigo.

Does this sound familiar to you?  Well, I have some good and bad news.

The bad news is: the first draft never gets any easier.  It is always going…

Sitting in the same chair every day, facing the same desk, with the same discord sprayed across it and the same wall behind it can grow to be very boring. And when bored, I tend to search for things to un-bore me, which usually does not involve writing, which is what I should have been doing in the first place.

While rearranging your desk or moving its position every so often is good, and often helps dispel any illusions of static creative energy, you can’t do it all the…

Of every emotion a writer can feel, fear can perhaps be the worst. One look at the best sellers list can send knees wobbling. One look at the publishing industry, the requirements, the authors recently acquired, can make our hearts rise to the top of our throats, an insidious knot refusing to go away, thundering away at the thought of reaching that level.

Or it could be worse. It is good to have some insecurities when it comes to publishing, when it comes to meeting…

The writer’s life is often a lonely life, with hours upon hours locked away with a notebook, a typewriter, a laptop, away from human contact, shunning friends and family alike, until that masterpiece is finally finished.A writer’s social life often consists of their characters— and whoever restocks their microwavable meals in the freezer, does the dishes, and brings the coffee.

I know that as a writer, I wouldn’t love more than to be able to flick a switch, and for all of the…