This article is by K.S. Crooks. I began my life-long journey with martial arts at the age of eight, when my mother enrolled me in my first judo class. Being a very small boy, she thought that it would give me strength and confidence. It gave me those, plus much more. In high school I … Read more
Talking about writing can be fun. Hell, I love it. But a year ago I realized that I needed to stop yapping so much and start tapping more. The keys, that is. It’s lonely, hair-pulling work sometimes, but I had to keep my nose to the grindstone. No matter how much I wanted to chat … Read more
“Finish what you start” is some of the best advice one can give a burgeoning writer. However, what happens when you absolutely can’t finish something? It’s not Writer’s Block nor Creative ADD. You’ve reached critical mass. No matter how long you edit, send off for critiques, and outline, it’s just not coming together. Writing can … Read more
This is the fourth entry in my Cover to Cover series which follows a story idea from inception until potential publication. Several months back in my third entry, I talked about owning a first draft and how to get through it to the end. Well, in August of this year I finished my first draft. … Read more
If you’ve done National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) you know there sometimes comes a point when you think, “Why in the hell am I doing this?” This is a normal feeling albeit a demoralizing one. You’ve been tap-tapping away when suddenly the juice runs out, the muse falls off her glittery pegasus, or writer’s block … Read more
A writer, in my experience, is very good at looking to the future. We plan the course of our novels and look to a time when our works in progress will be complete and make us piles of money. Or at least I do. As Michael Kanin once said, “I don’t like to write, but … Read more
If there’s one quality that seems to characterize writers, it’s our need for time alone. Time to think. Time to daydream, to play with our words. History elevates the solitary writer as a kind of legend: that elusive genius, scribbling furiously in a forgotten attic, until at long last (usually upon completion of their magnum opus) they … Read more
My car radio is dead. It doesn’t bother me much yet, because I have a couple things going for me: 1) A love of exercising my mediocre singing voice, and 2) a ton of stories I don’t have enough time to write. While there are no doubt authorial aspirants whose schedules would make my own … Read more
The key to finding your way as a writer is to discover what kind of writer you are. Are you the type that talks about writing but doesn’t really do it much? Are you the kind that works diligently every day, but always ends up deleting or scrapping the whole manuscript? Are you the perfect … Read more
You’re working on your current project when a beautiful faerie lands on your laptop and says, “Hey! Why are you writing this boring story? Look over here!” Wow, a story about elven wyvern hunters in 18th Century Central America is much more interesting than my current Work in Progress (WIP) about mutant horse-thieves in a … Read more