“To my big brother George: the richest man in town.” If you’re a fan of classic Christmas movies, this line from It’s a Wonderful Life will be familiar to you. It comes towards the very end of the movie when George Bailey’s friends rally around him in his hour of crisis to save him from personal disaster. The line perfectly summarizes the movie’s central theme: that no man is a failure who has friends. It’s a line that year after year draws tears from eyes that have seen the movie a dozen times. A line that causes little shivers to run down one’s spine. Why? Because it’s unmistakably, undeniably good.…

There will always be better writers than me. How do you feel when you read this sentence? For some, this statement is discouraging, even defeatist. If there will always be better writers than me, why even bother? When I read this sentence, I get excited. There will always be better writers than me. That means there will always be something for me to learn. I love learning about writing almost as much as writing itself. The idea that I can continue to pick up tips and techniques to hone my craft is exciting to me. The realization that this will always be the case, that there will always be more…

If you were to ask one hundred writers what single piece of advice they would give to anyone considering writing, you’d get probably get one hundred different responses. Some may reply “show don’t tell”, while others would give a sad smile and say, “find a less painful pursuit, friend.”           My response would be this: you need to love the game.           Some writing purists might think this crude terminology, but ultimately writing is a game. And just what is that game? Simply this: there exists an excellent novel out there, and it’s your job to write it.           In order to achieve this goal, in order to “win”, you’re…

There is nothing that has saved me more trips to the ice-cold wall of writer’s block than mental drafting. I’m not a big believer in “rules” when it comes to writing, as you can find exceptions to just about any writing rule out there. One rule that I do enforce on myself, however, is this: I never come to the keyboard without something ready to write. It’s hard for non-writers to appreciate just how daunting a blinking cursor on a blank Word Doc can be. That’s why I make sure I have something locked and loaded in the old mind cannon so I can send that little blinking line scurrying…

There are characters who never seem to come alive. No matter how you smooth out their dialogue or tighten their motivation, they never ascend from the boundaries of the page. Never crackle with the spark of life.           There are characters who live to rebel. Headstrong and obstinate, they fight the very pen with which they’re written. Never saying what you intend them to say, never doing what you intend them to do, these anarchists scoff at your plot and snarl at outlines. Try your patience as they might, you can shake your head and take some solace in the simple fact that they are at least alive.           And…

Recently, I experienced one of those impossible to describe moments that reminded me just why we do this writing thing.           I was taking a shower when I got the glimmer of an idea for a short story. Not a full-fledged plot, not a beat-by-beat breakdown.           Just an idea.           Ten minutes later I was at my computer, pounding away at the keys as this story flowed out of me. In less than half an hour the first draft was complete. I scrolled to the top of the page, leaned back on the couch, and read through what I’d just written.           It was far from Hemmingway, yet as…