Writing Excuses

Dan shares his experience of rebuilding and reinventing his writing career from his section of our forthcoming book Now Go Write. Our hosts walk through practical ways that writers can diversify their work— from writing for RPGs and video games to writing in a new genre like middle grade or nonfiction — and why having multiple, truly separate revenue streams matters. They also dig into the psychological work of redefining yourself as a writer (not only a novelist), staying flexible when setbacks hit, and protecting time for the projects that keep your heart in the work. Listen for concrete strategies and encouragement to lean into new formats without losing sight of why you write.

Homework: Write something in a genre or format you’ve never tried before — a single TV episode scene, a short RPG adventure, a tie-in short story, a script, or a 500–1,000-word nonfiction piece. And see how it feels! 

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 

Call for Writing Breakthroughs

Have you had a breakthrough in your writing because of Writing Excuses? If so, we want to hear about it. Fill out this Writing Breakthroughs Google Form for a chance to be featured in a WX Newsletter! 

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*Scholarship applications for our cruise are open now until December 31st, 2025. You can learn more and apply here. 

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Dan Wells, Erin Roberts, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and DongWon Song. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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In this episode, Erin returns with the final two “rules” from her section of our forthcoming book Now Go Write—and why it might be worth breaking them. With DongWon and Mary Robinette, Erin explores the classic advice to “show, don’t tell,” and the debate over whether magic needs a system. We unpack when these conventions can strengthen a story—and when they can get in your way.

Homework: Choose one of the four rules Erin covered across both “Break All The Rules” episodes (20.45 & 20.46) and rewrite a scene from your own work to deliberately break it. See what changes when you do.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 

Call for Writing Breakthroughs

Have you had a breakthrough in your writing because of Writing Excuses? If so, we want to hear about it. Fill out this Writing Breakthroughs Google Form for a chance to be featured in a WX Newsletter! 

Last Annual Cruise

The final WXR cruise sets sail for Alaska in September 2026—don’t miss your chance to be part of it. Learn more and sign up here.

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Erin Roberts, Mary Robinette Kowal, and DongWon Song. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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In this episode, Erin shares a sneak peek from her section of our forthcoming book, Now Go Write. (To learn more about our book, sign up for our newsletter!) Erin explores four classic writing “rules,” when it’s worth breaking them, and what that can reveal about your own craft. Today, our hosts dive into two of these rules—examining how they can both help and hinder your storytelling. Tune in next week for part two, when we tackle the remaining two rules that Erin wants us to break.

Homework: Write down some of the rules you think you follow most rigidly in your own writing. Take one of these rules and begin to think about ways you can challenge this rule, or break it, or soften it in some way! 

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 

Call for Writing Breakthroughs

Have you had a breakthrough in your writing because of Writing Excuses? If so, we want to hear about it. Fill out this Writing Breakthroughs Google Form for a chance to be featured in a WX Newsletter! 

Last Annual Cruise

The final WXR cruise sets sail for Alaska in September 2026—don’t miss your chance to be part of it. Learn more and sign up here.

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Erin Roberts, Mary Robinette Kowal, and DongWon Song. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Join Our Writing Community! 

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We have an exciting announcement! Writing Excuses is publishing a book, Now Go Write, which will feature writing from all of our hosts! Sign up for our newsletter to learn when our book is coming out! 

So, for our next few episodes, we’ll have each host share one of the topics that they have written a chapter about for the book. Today, we’re starting with Mary Robinette, who will be covering the question of how to handle relationships. We explore how relationships can act like characters themselves—shifting, growing, or breaking under story pressure. Mary Robinette also introduces the “Kowal Relationship Axes” as a way to build believable dynamics and conflict between characters. We hope you come away with practical tools to write relationships that feel real, messy, and full of momentum.

Homework: First, sign up for our newsletter to learn when our book is coming out! 

Then: who does your character love because of their flaws and why? Write an exploration scene where the character is exhibiting those flaws and the other character is watching that fondly. Then, write a different scene where one character is mad at the other and the flaws are pissing them off. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 

Call for Writing Breakthroughs

Have you had a breakthrough in your writing because of Writing Excuses? If so, we want to hear about it. Fill out this Writing Breakthroughs Google Form for a chance to be featured in a WX Newsletter! 

Last Annual Cruise

The final WXR cruise sets sail for Alaska in September 2026—don’t miss your chance to be part of it. Learn more and sign up here.

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, and Erin Roberts. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Join Our Writing Community! 

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Our Sponsors:
* Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/excuses for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com
* Check out Talkiatry and use my code talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com
* Check out Tin Can and use my code tincan.com/WX for a great deal: https://tincan.kids


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Erin and Howard sat down with paleontologist Dr. Tara Lepore for a fascinating dive into the science—and storytelling potential—of deep time. Dr. Lepore explains why paleontology is about far more than dinosaurs and how mammal teeth can reveal “birth certificates” millions of years old. We hope you come away with new ways to think about science as story—and how to weave the vastness of deep time into your own worlds.

Thing of the Week: University of California Museum of Paleontology 

Homework: Find 3 ways that deep time could be interwoven into your current or upcoming writing project. 

Call for Writing Breakthroughs

Have you had a breakthrough in your writing because of Writing Excuses? If so, we want to hear about it. Fill out this Writing Breakthroughs Google Form for a chance to be featured in a WX Newsletter! 

Last Annual Cruise

The final WXR cruise sets sail for Alaska in September 2026—don’t miss your chance to be part of it. Learn more and sign up here.

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Dan Wells, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. Our guest was Dr. Tara Lepore. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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Erin describes her own writing process as, “a bunch of random practices thrown into a bag and shaken up." Nevertheless, for today’s episode, Erin managed to organize her processes into four categories: getting work, getting in, getting done, getting right. Listen as Erin gives us tips and tricks for freelancing, deadlines, and saying no.

Homework: Write down all the tips and tricks you’ve learned about your own personal writing process on a single page. 

Show Notes: https://www.pacemaker.press/

P.S. The final WXR cruise sets sail for Alaska in September 2026—don’t miss your chance to be part of it. Learn more and sign up here.

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Dan Wells, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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We’re continuing our episodes focusing on our hosts’ personal writing practices. Like Mary Robinette’s. DongWon’s involves a bit of… chaos. 

DongWon’s day job as a literary agent is demanding and unpredictable, so they often have to fit in their writing process into their free time. They are also often collaborating with other authors and friends (often writing for games)—so how does all of this inform their unique writing process? Well, first DongWon thinks a lot about the time and space that surrounds their writing– how can they make a simple, low-stimulation environment so that they can better focus? And then when they’re ready to begin, they don’t start with an outline. Instead… well, we’ll let you listen and hear them explain it to you.

Homework: Go sit somewhere. Don’t bring your phone or your headphones. Sit there until you feel the itch of irritation of doing nothing, and then push through it a little bit longer. Cultivate your boredom. Then, sit down and write. 

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Dan Wells, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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A lot of people ask published authors what their writing process is like, as if it is a key to being able to write. The only important process is the one that works for you. 

So, we’re going to let each of our hosts spend an episode explaining their own personal process. Our idea is that the best writing process is the one that works for you. Also, this is going to change over the course of your life and career.  

Today we’re learning about Mary Robinette’s writing process, which is built on having a totally random schedule.

Homework: What helps you want to do the things that aren’t writing? For instance, the other tasks and joys in your life? Because the tools that you use for those, also work for writing. Is it lists, or spreadsheets, or body-doubling? Now, see if you can use those same things to help you write more. 

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Dan Wells, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Join Our Writing Community! 

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Our Sponsors:
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Today our hosts tell you why you don’t need to listen to all of our episodes—or even most of them. Each of our five hosts weighs in on how you can combine the topics, subtopics, and lenses that each episode features in order to create a structured path forward for your own writing journey. 

We start with a broad overview of this season’s structure. Why did we use the simple categories that most of us learned in elementary school— Who, What, Where, When, & Why—to organize our year’s 52 episodes? How did we decide on sub-topics for each category, and how should you decide which episodes to listen to more than once, and which ones to skip. Hint: it’s going to be different for everyone. 

Homework: Think about something that you do really well in your writing. Write down what it is (think of the lenses that we’ve covered in this season), and congratulate yourself on using the lens that you are using the best, the best way you can. 

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Dan Wells, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Join Our Writing Community! 

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Our Sponsors:
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We had the absolute joy of sitting down with Charlie Jane Anders, the author of the book we’ve focused on for our last four episodes (All the Birds in the Sky). We talked with Anders about POV, tone, and how she played around with humor —partly by occasionally using an omniscient POV! Anders also explained how to incorporate humor and whimsy, and what it feels like to take risks as an author in today’s literary landscape. 

Thing of the Week:

Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders

Homework from Charlie Jane Anders:

Take a scene you’ve already written and add five or six narrative asides that are providing information that the characters in the scene couldn’t possibly know. 

Ads:

If you’re interested in the Whodunit Murder Mystery cruise (which you heard a teaser for at the start of this episode)—you can visit whodunitcruises.com to learn more! The next cruise is February 6th, 2026 and leaves from Los Angeles! 

For 20% off Scrivener, you can the code “EXCUSES” for at www.literatureandlatte.com. 

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal and DongWon Song. Our guest was Charlie Jane Anders. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Join Our Writing Community! 

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Our Sponsors:
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* Check out Talkiatry and use my code talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com
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