In one of my recent office hours, someone told me they were struggling to find time to write. Life had gotten chaotic and unpredictable and they were feeling overwhelmed by the thought of abandoning their story in the middle. This question really hit home for me because recently—over the past two weeks—I’ve had to  … Read more

I want to share you with a perspective that I wish someone would share with me every time I’m stuck in the middle of a draft (be it the 1st or 10th) and it isn’t working or the whole dang thing is feeling endless or pointless or wasted. It’s a perspective I think I’ve always  … Read more

If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve probably heard me talk about goals once or twice (or more). Yes, I loooooove to talk about goals. I even wrote a blog post called “10 Fixes to the Most Common Plot Problems” (and spoiler! The answer to ALL 10 is GOALS!) Goals give our stories  … Read more

Since January 1st, I’ve been DEEP in revision mode for my NaNoWriMo novel (which as of now is still a secret…sorry!). But I can tell you this. It’s needed a ton of work so far! But I will say I’m having a blast revising it, possibly more so than most of my revisions. As I  … Read more

This year’s NaNoWriMo was the first year (in a long time…maybe forever?) I got to: 1) Start a new novel on November 1 (In past years, due to deadline timing, I was usually having to finish novels or just make 50k words of progress somewhere in the middle of a novel) 2) Draft a novel  … Read more

“Why is it called Save the Cat!?” A question I’ve been getting a lot since my novel-writing guide, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, was first published back in 2018. It’s often a confusing title because the term, “Save the Cat!” actually has very little to do with the core of the book, which is  … Read more

Maybe you’ve heard your writer friends talking about Save the Cat! and felt yourself nodding a long while secretly wondering, “What the heck is save the cat?” Maybe you read about it on a blog post or saw it mentioned in a Youtube video. Or maybe you were just searching for cute cat pictures and  … Read more

Flashbacks and backstory can be extremely useful storytelling devices that give your reader important information about the history of the world, a character’s past, and why certain characters behave a certain way. When used sparingly and strategically, backstory can provide context and clarity and even create empathy for unlikeable characters. But where do you do  … Read more

“How do you approach the beat sheet?” There’s a question I get asked a lot. Logically, you might think I start with the Opening Image and just work my way through, beat by beat, until I reach the Final Image. But that’s not usually the case. Although all of my novel brainstorm processes are unique,  … Read more

It’s no secret that one of the best ways to become a better fiction writer is to read lots of fiction. But I think it goes beyond that. I think, to become a better writer, you can’t just read a lot. You have to learn and practice how to read books as a writer. Not  … Read more

I’m currently enrolled in a mindfulness course that introduced me to a wonderful passage from The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo. As the instructor read it aloud, I found myself not only thinking of my own experiences with the world, but of those of my characters. Of all characters, actually. This is the passage. Feel free to read  … Read more

The Karma Club Better You Than Me The Geography of Lost Things I Speak Boy Suns Will Rise Amelia Gray is Almost Okay I could go on and on but I’ll save you the time and just tell you what all of these books have in common. Apart from the fact that they were all  … Read more

Your novel’s first page is like the first 5 minutes of a blind date. Be honest, you can usually tell within the first five minutes whether or not there’s going to be a second date. Just like readers can tell by the end of the first page whether or not they’re going to stick around  … Read more

You finished a first draft. Phew! And now you may or may not be staring at a huge pile of messy pages that may or may not resemble a novel. My guess is you’re exhausted. You’re burnt out. You’re sick of this story and all of the characters and never want to look at them  … Read more

Coming up with the perfect title for your novel is no picnic. Especially if you’ve been working on the story for months and you’re so close to it, it’s nearly impossible to see it objectively. That’s what happened to me with my latest middle grade novel, so I thought I’d write a post that breaks  … Read more

It’s officially NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) where writers across the globe challenge themselves to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November.  To help you smash through that 50k word mark, I’m sharing with you my NaNoWriMo Starter Beat Sheet. What’s a “starter beat sheet?” Well, think of it as a foundation  … Read more

It’s no big secret that if we want to hook readers from the first chapter, we actually have to write a first chapter that hooks readers. With TBR stacks getting taller and taller, and Netflix releasing a new bingeable show every twenty minutes, gone are the days when readers will graciously give new books 50,  … Read more

Today’s writing hack is something I’ve been doing for years (maybe even all of my career) and I didn’t even realize it was a hack. I just assumed everyone did this. But the more I shared it with other writers, the more I heard a similar response, “I’ve never done this before and it helps  … Read more

Sometimes a character will pop into your head fully formed, like you’ve been friends forever and you know everything about them and can finish each other’s sentences. But sometimes–most times, I’d say–you start with a glimpse of a character. A piece of dialogue. A specific reaction. Or another sliver of information that’s just one facet  … Read more