A Thriller App

There are lots of tools out there for the novel writer, from apps designed for brainstorming, software geared to organizing that first draft, to the well-known heavy-hitters of word processing. And of course, the Internet has forever changed the way writers do research. But the one really helpful tool I kept coming back to as […]

First Revision Fun

Beside my writing desk I have a small table heaped with books. Beneath that, without much organization, lie several stacks of file folders and yellow legal pads that contain the various rounds of researching, drafting, and revising that my manuscript has gone through over the past couple years. I was rummaging through the paperwork this […]

Playing time

I coach my daughter’s soccer team–fourteen 12-year old girls. Recently, I got an email from a mom who was upset at the amount of playing time her daughter received in the last game. I understand what it means to want the best for your child, so when I responded, I didn’t want to just dismiss […]

Writing like a rock star

I went to see the rock group Muse in concert last week at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly. Whether progressive/space rock is your cup of tea or not, if you’d seen these guys perform, I think you would have judged it spectacular. The production value was over the top: the quality of the sound, […]

Staying out of the way as a writer

I just finished reading Elmore Leonard’s Out of Sight. I’m a bit ashamed to admit that the author’s passing spurred my first foray into his books. He’s so often put forward as a writer whose style aspiring writers should study, that it seems a glaring deficiency to have not read his entire body of work. […]