A few weeks ago, I attended a workshop on the Enneagram, a method for analyzing personalities. Although the Enneagram is intended to help you understand yourself and the people around you, it also makes a great character-building tool for writers. Here are a few steps to get started using it. 1. Determine your character’s primary…
Category: Blog
Book Review: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
“Resistance aims to kill. Its target is the epicenter of our being: our genius, our soul, the unique and priceless gift we were put on earth to give and that no one else has but us.” —p. 14 The War of Art I’d heard The War of Art is a great book for writers, and…
DEEP POV Lesson 4 – Filtering Words
Filtering words? What’s that? Michael R. Emmert, on the Scribophile blog, says, “To picture what filtering is, picture sea sand being poured through a screen into a bucket. The screen removes any larger objects as the sand is poured. Filtering eliminates pieces, and leaves an altered product. In fiction, the concept of filtering is similar:…
Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk (or, When Your Publisher Goes Out of Business)
A few weeks ago, as some writers might know, Midnight Ink decided to close its doors after its spring/summer 2019 releases. Why should you care? Well, for a couple of reasons. First, that means people like editor Terri Bischoff, awesome friend of RMFW and an overall great person, is out of a job. I have no doubt…
Giving Thanks
As the year winds down, I like to take more than a couple of moments to consider what I’m thankful for. During our annual Thanksgiving feast, my family has a tradition of going around the table and saying what we’re grateful for. There’s the usual – family, friends, success, “glad it wasn’t worse” stuff. Mostly…