Three years ago, I decided to try Ray Bradbury’s challenge to new writers to write a story a week for a year. I’ve seen other people do it, although most of them were writing pretty short pieces. I averaged 3,595 words per story, with 186,937 words total by the time I finished. The challenge was…
Category: General Interest
Being Teachable
I am reluctant to say this, as writing is a very meticulous skill with rules that must be learned and practiced, but here it is: I never graduated high school. Then life happened. I started writing a book in my early 30s. While charisma and the art of storytelling can take you far, if you…
Writing Romance: The Happily Ever After
Hello Campers, Are you ready for a Happily Ever After? I mean, isn’t that why we read (and write) romance? It’s in the rules. So, on our beat sheet, we’re down to the Resolution and Final Image. It says “Show how the characters are now fully in their essence and perfect for each other.” In…
Three Wise Men, a Bad Onion, and a Viking Walk into a Story
Yes, the title sounds like a bad joke. And in a way, it surely is. But it’s also a very good lesson for me as a writer. One I hope you can see the wisdom of as well. Raise your hand if there are three wise men in the Bible? Again, keep those hands up…
Wag the Tail
I keep running across statements saying things like “The average self-published author only sells 500 books in his lifetime” or “The average author earns less than X dollars/euros/pounds a year.” Here’s the problem, and it goes back to the idea of the “long tail.” Average (or arithmetic mean) is a measure of central tendency. It’s…