Welcome to my newsletter! Why the hell should we keep trying? Can you answer that Reader? What do we do when we face writer's block and other creative challenges? Why should we keep writing or creating when we're worried that it won't be good enough? Why should we do it when we fear what other people might say? Why should we even write stories with comedic throughlines or happy endings when the world is going through so much hell in a handbasket? And if we are supposed to do that, how do we...
15 days ago • 3 min read
Welcome to my newsletter! One year, I determined to write a short story every month. I didn't promise to write a publishable short story, just a short story. Some people do this once a week, some every two weeks, and some every day. I challenged myself to write a short story once a month. With everything else I was working on, I would write one short story. How I set that up and met the challenge is another story. I'll tell you bits of it as we go along, but I now challenge you to write a...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Welcome to my newsletter! Yes, Reader, issue #177 was a mistake. Forgive me. Anyone can make a mistake especially when you are preparing to globe hopping and you haven't checked off all the boxes, twice. Case in point issue number 177 of my newsletter. I thought I'd set it up the properly to sent out on August 19th. Obviously I was wrong and you received a copy of the previous issue. My bad, See, I'm in Edinburgh, Scotland, at the Fringe Festival, exploring creative vision on a mega level....
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Welcome to my newsletter! Opening Scenes are not just -- the story starts here. It's true, Reader. The beginning of a story is possibly the most important moment in any film or novel. Even nonfiction narratives rely on a writer’s ability to create an opening moment that stimulates the audience to turn the page or sit back and follow along in the film. How writers construct the opening scenes varies. But there are certain basic techniques that we all utilize. Here are three. Opening scenes...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Welcome to my newsletter! "How do you know when an idea is just too stupid?" You ever wondered about that Reader? Many students have asked me, how do you determine what's a stupid idea? How do you know when an idea is really, really dumb, crazy, pointless, and worthless? One of my favorite answers goes like this: Try to imagine now that someone comes to you with a jar, a glass jar. You can see in the jar that there's this sort of milky gelatos-like fluid sitting in there. It's not pretty in...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Welcome to my newsletter! "Open the closet and let the family skeletons out?" Have you ever done that, Reader? Have you thought about it? Let's say you want to write a story based on something that happened to you in real life—something deeply personal. You might ask yourself, WHY? Do you want to do it because it'll make a good story? Do you want to do it to work through feelings you’re still wrestling with? Is it a form of redemption? Why do you want to do it? Answering that question might...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Welcome to my newsletter! WHAT FILLS OUR CHILDHOOD MINDS? And does it influence us still? Greetings, Reader, Did you ever ask yourself that question? Do you still remember the things you discovered when you were young? Do you recall the dreams you had? What filled your childhood days of play? By the time I was ten, I’d become I'd filled countless hours with cartoons and comic books, TV shows, and a few movies. And my fevered imagination was on fire almost 24/7. It kept me from being bored or...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Welcome to my newsletter! How Much Power Do Our Stories Have Over Our Audience? Greetings, Reader, This will be more editorial than my usual instructive or writing tips scenario. It's more of an observation about the relationships of stories and characters with their audience. Again, as writers and creatives, that's what we do. We observe life and participate in it. But I have noticed that we're becoming quite visceral in terms of the human experience. As the years have passed, we have become...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Welcome to my newsletter! The game's afoot! CSI is on the scene, and you're a lead detective. Or ... You're standing in the shadows, watching the police fumble about clues. Somehow, the safe's been cracked. Was the combination used? But no one knew the combination. And who was the dead man found in the vault? Greetings, Reader, No matter how you look at this as the sleuth charged with unraveling the mystery, where do you start? As a writer, in order to know what the detective must seek and...
4 months ago • 1 min read