Writing
Half a Page in Oslo: Why Every Book Gets a Second Goodbye
This is the epilogue, beautiful friend.
Writing
Writing
A Look Back at Novlr
The best writing tools are the ones that get the hell out of your way and let you write.
Writing
Which Would You Choose? Synthetic or Cyborg?
President Duke argues that anyone who transferred into a synthetic body stopped being human the moment their original brain died. I've been thinking about this argument for years, and I still can't find a hole in it.
Writing
Writers, Find Your People
Writing is a lonely profession, but there are times when you need someone else to help answer the difficult questions like "how many movie quotes are too many?"
Writing
How to Turn an Existing Short Story into a Novel
Pamela Koehne-Drube over at Novlr wrote a great framework for expanding a short story into a novel. It's like she was reading my diary.
Writing
One Is The Loneliest Number (of POVs in a Vinestead Anthology Novel)
I know, I know... House of Nepenthe isn't even out yet, and here I am talking about Book 9 of the Vinestead Anthology. Believe me, I wish I had the marketing instinct to build up excitement for my longest and most ambitious novel ever before it hits shelves,
Writing
On Trauma, Time, and Anaïs Nin
I've been reading non-fiction by Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin in the hopes of transporting myself back to a time I've romanticized as being the height of literary community. I love the little insights into their thinking, their processes, and their feelings. I also like
Books
Crying in Bed, Reading in the Park, Writing Everywhere
The other night, Matador had trouble falling asleep. Something was plaguing his little eight-year-old mind, and he tossed and turned in his bed while I lay reading and crying beside him. Not openly, of course. I wasn't bawling. But tears ran down my cheeks, and the
Writing
House of Nepenthe: It's Harder to Work When You Just Don't Want to, Duh.
I recently finished another revision pass on House of Nepenthe, a process that felt like trying to get a long sofa up a spiral staircase, and I didn't even have anyone screaming pivot at me the whole time to keep me motivated. For context, Vise Manor came out
Writing
Going Narrow: A Practical Guide to Buckling Like a Belt
After a brief and underwhelming sabbatical from the Church of Bezos, I’ve returned—head bowed, tail tucked, and ready to once again sell my wares in the temple. You know, the one Jeebus flipped tables over because it had become a marketplace? That one. Except this temple is digital,
Writing
Ethics vs. Exposure: The Dilemma of Publishing with Amazon
How convenience, compromise, and capitalism are breaking the indie dream. Enter the Behemoth I'm pretty sure the phrase "love-hate relationship" was invented in anticipation of how I would feel about Amazon in 2025. I remember–decades ago now–being at the library on base in
Writing
Leaving Amazon is Expensive
For the longest time, Amazon was all a self-published author really needed. Upload your book, let them assign you an ISBN, and boom—you're published. Simple. Easy. Almost too easy. But now that I'm stepping outside the walled garden and going wide, I'm