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You’ve begun working in earnest. The story is alive, your cylinders are firing. You’re getting up every morning and putting in the hours. But then, something happens. Life delivers a distraction, and...

Do you often find it hard to stick to your writing plan? How often do “important tasks” distract you and pull you away from your deeper purpose? Fantasy football sounds like a hoot, but if it is...

Creativity is your birthright. We live in a culture that is invested in our believing otherwise. I frequently hear folks talk of talent as though it’s a finite commodity. People tend to think...

So many of my students and potential students come to me wanting to know how to get published and produced. They want their work to be read, to be seen. But what they really want is for themselves to...

There is nothing less funny than writing about humor. I was a standup comic for years. Every once in a while after a show, some dude would come up to me wanting to discuss my act. I’d cringe...

For all you writers struggling somewhere in the middle of your manuscript, here are five tips to get you to the end. 1) Create a deadline for yourself. Think of a practical timeframe to complete your...

“To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction.” – Isaac Newton While exploring the nature of the “want” in your story, it’s important to understand that you...

Why do we write? There is nothing logical about wanting to be a writer. The lives of artists can be awful, despairing, regret-filled exercises in futility. Writers and artists can be some of the most...

At the heart of every story lies a dilemma from which all tensions and conflicts arise. How do you identify the dilemma in your story? There are two ingredients: A powerful desire A false belief...

The difference between journaling and storytelling is context. Journaling is simply documenting what happened. Storytelling involves illustrating the meaning of what happened. Our goal as storytellers...

What is genius? I don’t like it when people use the term genius, primarily because I think they misuse the word. I believe that genius is an aspect of our nature, rather than a character trait...

Here’s some advice for first time writers on setting a daily word count. Consistency is the key. Set a writing goal. Can you write 750 to 1000 words a day? If you can do that, you will have a...

Join me now to begin the process of getting the story from your imagination to the page, and complete the first draft and a rewrite of your screenplay in 90 days. Zoom Meeting RecordingAccess...

In the first day of The 90-Day Memoir workshop the writers often have some major insights and revelations. But it is the second day that things start to get interesting. Here’s an excerpt from my Day...

There are as many ways to begin your story as there are ways to procrastinate. Beginning to write your book or screenplay is easier than you think. All you have to do is sit down, get out a sheet of...

This week, Mary-Beth and I celebrated our fourteenth wedding anniversary. Getting married was a terrifying leap for me; you might call it a transformative experience. And since the cornerstone of what...

(Image from And Justice for All, 1979) You can’t have story without conflict. As writers, it is important to investigate and become conscious of what we feel strongly about. Find those issues...

“Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.” – Alfred Hitchcock Story moves as the result of complications that arise, not out of plot, but out of character and theme. As our protagonist attempts...