I recently sent the first three chapters of Project Scrimmage off to my writing group for feedback. There were a few specific things I asked them to keep an eye out for as they were reading, but I was mostly wanting a vibe check. I noticed several patterns in the comments. To be honest, they're not exactly anything new. I have quite a few, what I'd call, first draft pitfalls. Little habits I've yet to break and things that tend to be absent in the earliest drafts of any given

Back in March, I finally started my YouTube channel after talking myself out of it and putting it off for a long time. It's still an itsy-bitsy corner of the internet, and I still have plenty of things to figure out when it comes to my videos, but I'm having fun, and that's all that matters to me right now. That doesn't mean I don't think about things like monetization. It's not a goal I'm actively chasing per se. If anything, I see it more as a potential supplemental income

For most of my writing journey, I've considered myself a Plantser, the kind of writer who goes into a new WIP with a vague outline but also isn't afraid to explore and see where the story goes—even if that means veering away from that outline. However, for a lot of that time, I've also tried to make myself into a Plotter. Sometimes Planners, they're the writers who tend to do a significant amount of prep work ahead of a new project, which might include heavily detailed outlin

When you're balancing your writing with a day job, it's important to embrace those short windows of downtime. I do a fair bit of my writing during my lunch break. Even though I've only got 30 minutes during a standard shift, I can get a fair bit of writing stuff done in that time. It's all a matter of your approach and staying focused on small, achievable goals. Here are a few ways I make the most of my lunch break writing sessions, no matter what I'm working on that day. Hav

Things don't always go according to plan when you're a writer. Characters act out of character or take you far beyond the plot you laid out for them. The words don't always come. You stumble into plot holes, not knowing how to climb out. Your betas or editor might strongly suggest cutting something you love so dearly. And of course, there's the dreaded rejection letter. So, then? What is a writer to do? Bouncing back from a writing setback is an important, if not essential, s