Thank you, Lt. Col Petrov.
Today is Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov Saves The World Day, one of my personal holidays. On this day in 1983, Lieutenant Colonel Petrov, duty officer at a...
You're doing it wrong
and that's okay.
Line of direction, a brief tutorial
I’m working on a novella currently, and I just fixed a bit of awkwardness that I realized was a useful primer on what we mean when we say, “Line of...
Don't quit your day job, and other one-size-fits-all advice
As I write this, the publishosphere internets are blowing up about a Medium article by an author who got fairly fantastic advances on her first two deals,...
Check, please.
There are a couple of ways that failing to acknowledge and own our social power and choose to use it mindfully can get us into trouble—accidentally and on...
Working on multiple projects at once
Writer? Juggler? Email answerer? It's hard to know for sure what to put on your Form 1040. Ah, it’s a special kind of joy in the life of a professional...
Library Visit!
I’ll be in beautiful Marion, MA, at the Marion Arts Center at 6 pm on Thursday with the Elizabeth Taber Library crew to hang out, answer questions, and meet...
I know it's weird, but self-punishment doesn't actually lead to growth.
So it turns out that coffee and tea probably don’t dehydrate you; that in reasonable quantities they’re not bad for you unless you’re sensitive to caffeine;...
How not to be a dick to everybody
Make friends and avoid being that person of whom that everybody in the industry says, "Oh, them."
Erase, Erase, Erase
Or, I have a new novelette out today.
I spent a whole goddamn week with Billy Joel stuck in my head.
I blame Aer Lingus. You see, my noise cancelling headphones work better if there’s some other sound coming through them, so I was listening to music on my...
So you have/have not been nominated for an award.
Welcome to the emotional roller coaster. I’m not going to lie to you: for any professional writer, award season is kind of hell on the fingernails. Either...
I left my superpower in my other pants.
Don't be ridiculous. You're not wearing any pants.
Don't kill your darlings.
Not until you figure out what "Kill your darlings" really means.
I'll be at Worldcon this weekend!
It's in Ireland, you know....
Setting goals
What you can control, and what you will make yourself ill trying to control
How do I know when I've outgrown my crit group?
To crit quit or not to crit quit.
Mystery persons
Some random thoughts on my favorite kinds of plot.
I'll be at Silver Unicorn Books in Acton MA tonight, appearing with Cadwell Turnbull.
Does what it says on the box.
What I learned from reading slush
about how to get past a slush reader.