Every year, it’s a good habit to set some goals for what you’d like to achieve for your health, lifestyle, career, and lifelong dreams. For 2017, I made a list of goals I wanted to achieve as a writer. And this year, I learned that to set realistic goals for yourself, you need to have […]
2017: A Bug’s-Eye View Read More »
My doctor told me that writing fiction is killing me slowly. Okay, so that might be a bit of an exaggeration. But she did warn me about the negative impacts of sitting in a chair on my health. After two years of writing fiction, we already see the signs. In case you didn’t know this
Adventures in Dragon Dictation Read More »
A Review of ThrillerFest’s FBI Workshop for Fiction Writers If you’re a fiction author and writing novels in the thriller genre (crime, mystery, suspense, etc.), then you’re likely interested in gaining an intimate understanding of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI serves as our nation’s law enforcement agency at the federal level and
Writing the FBI into Your Fiction Novels—And Getting it Right Read More »
One of the biggest challenges for new authors is discovery. Readers will not read our novels if they don’t know about them. The Internet has led to the rise of self-publishing, which has democratized the tools of publishing, allowing anyone to to publish a book. It’s great that we don’t need to get through the
Too Many Fish in the Sea Read More »
All of this politics stuff is stressing me out. Seriously, my anxiety has been running higher than normal for several months. I don’t know if I can continue staying engaged for much longer without burning out. I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that you’re pretty stressed too. And I bet
So, you want to live in a democracy? Read More »
How could this happen? How could we take such a big step backwards, away from the values of our country, away from the guarantees found in the U.S. Constitution. I think it might be, at least in part, due to false perceptions of majority versus minority groups facilitated by the practice of gerrymandering. As we
Is this Gerry Mandering’s Fault? Read More »
To everyone who is following my blog and my journey to become a fiction writer, thank you for coming along for the ride. It’s about to get exciting, so I hope you strap on your seatbelts and stay tuned. I’m starting a new annual tradition to write a year in review for 2016 and give you
Goodbye 2016, Hello 2017 Read More »
Tomorrow, thousands of runners will set out to finish the Marine Corps Marathon. Let’s be clear. I will likely never run a marathon in my lifetime. If I ever signed up for a 10K, I’d be shocked. There are many reasons including an intense dislike for running, but I’m also sure it would not be
Writing a Marathon Read More »
In the last few months, I’ve become fully immersed in what I would call a writer’s life. When I’m not working on my day job or sleeping, I am a writer. I spend about about 12 hours a week listening to podcasts about self-publishing and story structure (on my commute and while I walk the
Last week, I began my graduate-level class on WMD and Film as I usually do, with an in-depth examination of the Manhattan Project. While I am fascinated with the history of the atomic bomb, I believe that in order to truly understand the dynamics of nuclear proliferation, it is important to stand in the shoes of
Lessons from the Manhattan Project Read More »
