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Better Living through Characters

I’ve been immersed in my story world for such a long time now that in some ways it feels more real than the real world. The characters, though, aren’t old friends. Well, some of them are. Others, though, are a part of me. Or, rather, parts of them are parts of me. Some of their traits and attitudes and idiosyncrasies are lifted from my own experience. And this is where it gets interesting: At the intersection of fiction and life. Your own gut reaction to any situation you put your characters in tells a story about your own… well… character, Read More …

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Traveling for Clarity

I’m currently sitting in Seven Cups tea house in Tucson, AZ. It’s an introverted writer’s dream. The tea is delicious, the AC just right, and I’m the only guest. Slow erhu music is playing softly enough to ignore and loudly enough to create an almost meditative atmosphere. I could never write in a crowded coffee shop, but this is heaven. There are no distractions, so even when I’m hitting a bump in the road, I have no choice but to sit with it and work my way through. A sip of tea is my only break. And I’m not even Read More …

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The Year of Routine – Take Two

At the beginning of this year, I mused about the life of endless routine that the pandemic had brought me. Now, six months on, I’m extremely fortunate that this routine is all the pandemic’s brought me. And yet I spent much of the past year with that edgy feeling that I was wasting time – a non-renewable and fast-dwindling resource – and that life was passing me by. So I actively sought to break the routine, to introduce novelty into my life in an attempt to slow down the subjective passage of time. Did it work? Well, up to a Read More …

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Talent Is Everything – Or Is It?

When it comes to brains or athlethicism or creativity, we all admire the prodigy. The precocious. The talented. Talent is what it’s all about. Now, it’s obvious that some people have talent. A shitload of it. Even when they were children, they excelled at their chosen activity. Some of them became obsessed with it. They practiced for hours. They immersed themselves fully. And they had the right parents or teachers or coaches, and their talent, combined with relentless practice and a good portion of serendipity, took them to the pinnacle of their careers. And then there are those who started Read More …

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Productive Procrastination

I’m currently in a slump. The writing just doesn’t want to flow. I’m fumbling my way through possible plot twists, and they all propel the story forward – straight off a cliff. That’s the trouble with us discovery writers. We need to write in order to find out what happens next, and sometimes what happens next is just not very interesting. It’s not like it’s the first time this has ever happened to me, and I’ve always found a way out of the slump. I know that I will this time, too. I trust the process. Sooner or later, the Read More …