Dogs Are Smarter Than People: Writing Life, Marriage and Motivation

So, one of the big debates in the world of writing advice is the Write Every Day Debate. I know! I know. Sexy name. High stakes. But, honestly, it gets people so riled up. There are the Write Every Day Camp. They carry lit Twitter torches and follow Stephen King who famously wrote: “Amateurs sit … Continue reading "Do You Have To Write Every Day? Stephen King Twitter Torches versus the Anti-Burnout Crew"

This week I got an Instagram message from a man selling his copyediting services and there were five incredibly obvious typos in his pitch. I’m talking about two words combined, misspelled words. Double punctuation at the end of a sentence. It was sad. So, there’s another guy on the internet who makes a ton of … Continue reading "How to Survive Stupid Writing Advice"

The city of Jackson, Mississippi is having a weird situation. To be fair, Jackson has had weird situations before. People left Christmas trees in potholes. They decorate road signs in ways road signs aren’t supposed to be decorated. But now what’s happening in Jackson is about something sacred. It’s about the mashed potato. People are … Continue reading "Even Potatoes Can Be Creepy When They’re Randomly Showing Up Everywhere"

Science isn’t always right. I know! Shocker. Once, some scientists had this theory about the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary. They truly believed that the lamb grew on a tree. To be fair, it was the Middle Ages in Europe and things were kind of like America right now. People had no clue about stuff, but … Continue reading "Lambs Growing On Trees, Man. Write Your Truths Because Other Truths Change"

So this dog caught a ball in his mouth and the video of it became viral. His name is Stanley the Collie and he has his own Instagram account. Of course he does. But then an Australian newsman interviewed Stanley and Stanley promptly took the microphone cover and ran off with it. Of course he … Continue reading "Dogs Know How to Be Famous, Do You? How to handle being popular"

When Carrie first started writing, she wrote contemporary teen fiction and she heard a lot of comments about being quirky. She’d hear comments like “Could that really happen?” And a lot of times, she’d answer, “Um. It already has.” One time, I had a story with a wedding expo that featured cannabis. Everyone said, “You … Continue reading "Destroy the Evil with Oliver the Cow and Cannabis-Themed Weddings"

A good story involves risk - risk to the character - risk to the things she or he loves.

So, last month Carrie was on an airplane, where she was trapped on a Philadelphia runway for awhile. Okay, hours. And someone kept expelling gas out the rectum. In Shaun language that means fart. Anyways, they were all trapped there, smelling this smell, and it was bad. Not bad enough for them to cancel the … Continue reading "Dutch Oven Your Hero"

Lots of us have bad people in our writing and our lives. These antagonists run the gamut from people who make us scream at their Facebook posts of Fakeness to actually physically hurting us and our community. But one of the biggest questions a lot of new writers have is this: Do I need a … Continue reading "Who is the Bad Guy"

When you’re in a business or nonprofit or just in your house, you’ll often notice that emotions are kind of like the flu. They can be easy to catch. When your friend is angry because someone is being a punk on Facebook, you often get angry, too. When your kid is sad, you can get … Continue reading "Zombie Deer, Carrie at 2:30 a.m. and Emotions Are Contagious"