Do you struggle to write short? Is your style more Hemingway or Faulkner? There are famous authors known for writing long, beautiful sentences. It’s not easy. But, either is writing one that can cut like a knife in six words or less. For this month’s blog, I wanted to discuss ways to strengthen our work by using fewer words.

One thing we’ve all got that writers in 1918 didn’t have was the Internet. In the palm of our hands is a device more technologically advanced than the computer systems aboard the Apollo rockets sent to the moon. Virtual book events are already popping up all over social media.

These days I feel a lot like Thor in Avengers: Endgame. By that I mean I don’t leave the house, I eat a ton of cheese, and I polish off a 12-pack of Yuengling on a weekly basis. The only free time I have — when not patching together an hour to frantically work or hearing my children scream “Dad” for the hundredth time — is spent streaming a never-ending loop of movies and shows.

Greetings from the quarantine. While most of my blog posts have been about the writing craft, I’ve decided to focus on how the book industry is faring with COVID-19. It’s not looking good right now for publishers, booksellers or authors.

Earlier this month, before the coronavirus shut everything down, I traveled to St. Petersburg for a freelance writing conference. Besides teaching at a state college in Fort Myers, I also make ends meet by writing for clients. A few hours before the conference started, I had the unique experience of visiting the Salvador Dalí Museum.

Grappling with trauma through writing is the hardest, but most rewarding thing any survivor can do. Whether they are processing the horrors of war, an abusive relationship or a devastating diagnosis, writers often employ coping mechanisms in their work to aid in searching for their own truth and inner peace.

Over the five years it took me to write my novel, I was skeptical of this notion. I saw what was possible — my finished novel — and my mouth was watering to have it done. I wanted it sooner, not later. Unfortunately that’s not the way it works. As months turned into years, and I felt disgusted by the mere sight of my manuscript, I realized that successfully completing a novel had more to do with patience and trust in the process than talent or inspiration. Or as the Buddhists call it, “taming the monkey mind.”

With over 1 billion users every month, now’s the time to get started on Instagram. It’s currently the second most downloaded app after YouTube and while it’s true Instagram usage skews younger, 60% of users said they’ve discovered new products or se

Let’s get in the Halloween spirit this week by examining horror, the all-encompassing genre of fear. Within horror exists many sub-genres including supernatural, slasher, sci-fi, zombie, humor, survival, and many more, yet for this discussion we’ll focus on psychological horror.

As writers we’re so focused on success (getting published) that we rarely give ourselves permission to simply write trash. The notion of transcribing something truly raw from our subconscious or filling pages with topics that’ll never be in a finished product is cringe-worthy.

One of the best novels featuring a character in self-denial — a masterpiece and one of my personal favorites — is The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. The story follows an English butler, Mr. Stevens, as he attempts to make sense of his life in a modernizing world, one where it’s become a novelty for homes to still have old-fashioned English butlers.

For fans of Masters of the Universe and 80s pop culture, a short piece I wrote featuring “Leech” the Evil Master of Power Suction.

A sci-fi flash fiction piece about automated teaching gone wrong in the classroom of the near future.

A question I wanted to examine is what fiction writers can learn from the success of comic book adaptations? The answer has to do with world building and the omniscient point of view.

When writing a novel leaning heavily on suspense, nothing is more important than structure. At the most basic level for a reader, tension is developed by the desire to learn something new about a main character or the plot. Good structure can aid the author in releasing details gradually to leave readers satisfied by the end of a story.

If you’ve ever been blown away by the work of Gillian Flynn, Ian McEwan or Kazuo Ishiguro, then you’re familiar with the unreliable narrator. This is an elusive technique many writers emulate, but it’s not as easy as they make it seem.

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