Hello, friends! I am waist-deep in structural edits at the moment, which is to say that I've bought every colour of Post-It in existence, watched three movies about writing (Stuck in Love, The Words, Being Flynn), sent quite a few emails to my dad and "tried" the new
I've never been much of an editor. My best guess is that the kind of writing I do is that "just throw your guts at the page" type that can be difficult to revisit. There have been times I've written things and thought "Well, that
I am in the grip of a wordlessness that is as profound as it is terrifying. The fear of failure is compelling. I am expecting to be able to pick up a brand new book, with barely a skeleton outline, and execute it in a
I had a conversation with Gaz, while slamming my keyboard into oblivion for Nano in 2011, about being a writer. I was trying to express to him what great joy I derive from writing: it's my life's purpose, it's the only thing I truly love, when
Here's a thing I hear people say a lot: Your book will fall flat without believable dialogue. I hear people saying this because I spend a lot of time listening. I didn't start listening because I wanted to improve my writing or anything stupid like that; I'm just
A few weeks ago, I had spent more time than I want to admit opening Scrivener, popping down a hundred words and then thinking that I would become inspired later, that I would know what happens next later. I had gone from actively writing a book to
If you ask my dad how well I respond to criticism, he will not be able to answer you because he'll be lying on the floor, laughing. Historically, taking criticism on board has not been my strong point. I am that interesting combination of believing that
Just writing "I'm so depressed!" over and over doesn't make for much of a read. I know this because I wrote it out a hundred times and then stuck it to my fridge and MY GOD it nearly forced me to stop sneaking chocolate in