I still remember the first time I built a website gallery for my art. It was a labor of love, a mix of excitement and frustration as I navigated the world of HTML for the first time. Each line of code was a step towards bringing my vision to life, a digital space where I
I’ve been up for days, anxious and paranoid, because I’m excited about a new tool I found on Reddit and immediately reached out to buy. I’ve been thinking about making a “magic 8-ball” tool to generate writing prompts for years so this one caught my eye. The prompts are fun, clever and creative, and there
I’ve seen this question pop up a few times, as well as some answers I don’t agree with. The main presumption seems to be this: that people with ADD can’t sit still and focus on ONE BIG PROJECT, which puts us at a disadvantage. I’ve seen some authors say this is why they can’t plan
I can tell you exactly how to write books that matter, but first we need to agree on some basic tenets, regarding the purpose of writing. Otherwise, you may resist some of the strategies I’m about to share, due to things you’ve been told, and things you believe. You’ll feel them when they come up,
A lot of authors – almost all I’ve talked to – are very cautious about the money. Several writers have told me they don’t want to make money with their writing, even after publishing several novels. They don’t want to make a living with their writing, because then it would be a job; if they
I planned to spend my summer indoors quietly catching up on my backlist of YA fantasy and scifi novels and maybe doing a bit of book editing. But I’ve also been wishing I had a way to help out more and share my expertise. I practically grew up at summer camps, spending 3 months a
Passion is worthless. Joy is priceless. The last several weeks I’ve been staying in a castle. At night, I’d scramble up the steep ruins, my path lit only by the moon and the stars. Below I can see the thick pine tree hills and the warm glow of the cabin down the hill. I’d sit
As someone who helps creative people try to make money with their produce (paintings, books, various products), and also someone working on a PhD in Literature, I am perhaps particularly aware of a devastating, but largely unrecognized, ideology of creative production that is entirely disconnected with the value of the thing being produced. I...
“The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.” – Michel de Montaigne “The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.” – Lois Lowry “The greatest thing about loneliness is you choose your own company.”...
I started this blog in 2011 and did nothing for a year except read all the books on creativity. It was research for a manifesto, but the more I read, the more fascinated I became with the subject. After another 5 years of freelancing, building digital products and working as a creative professional (my income
This morning I did an interview on writing fiction and we discussed, among other things, whether writing faster books leads to inferior quality and whether writing to market creates inferior art. These are real conversations, and though I would answer “no” to both, I’m often challenged by thousands of passionate creators who...
If you have a good idea for a business that provides value (by making something people want, need, like or enjoy), it’s easy to get sidetracked by details that don’t matter, and waste months playing around with websites and logos (by which time, you’ve probably had a totally new and better idea!) You need to
