Writing is often viewed as a solitary activity, something we do alone while we're hunched over our computers in the dead of night brooding as we wait for the muses to at last grace us with a dash of inspiration. But it takes a village to publish a novel. A story will go through so many hands before reaching bookshelves and, in my experience at least, some of the least talked about yet super-important are those of critique partners. Feedback from a critique partner, or CP, can

"Don't quit your day job" is a quip typically hurled at folks pursuing an endeavor in the performing arts like music or stand-up comedy who haven't honed their skills just yet. It's a well-meaning insult. The somewhat less blunt way of telling someone they don't have what it takes to make it in the industry. Right up there with the equally common, "What about a real job?" For many artists out there, quitting their day job to pursue their craft isn't so much a pipe dream as i

via Tome. Art is done in-house by Olivia. I'm what I call an "Internet Introvert." I've written more than once about being in the D.A.R.E. program during the early days of Myspace's existence and how my class's visiting police officer shared countless horror stories that made social media out to be a dangerous, lawless wasteland and how that, combined with personal insecurities, scared me away from using what has become such a valuable tool in the digital landscape. Lately, t

The first draft of a novel goes by many names. The Rough Draft. Zero Draft. Word Salad. Word Vomit. The Shitty First Draft. That last one is a personal favorite. Lately, though, there's another name I've been calling my roughest first drafts: The Proof of Concept Draft. Proof of Concept Draft was a term I just kind of made up and started using when several of my coworkers talked me into letting them read the most recent version of Bound to the Heart , which was at the time t

This time of year, there is a huge focus on setting goals and making plans for the upcoming months (you can find my writing goals for 2025 here ). But amid New Year's resolutions, you may also find bucket lists. These tend to be on the fun side, like trying a new activity or traveling to a different country, and are typically more long-term goals (ie, before you kick the bucket...). While I definitely have writing goals like publishing my novels, I also have a writing-centric

This week, we're celebrating the sixth anniversary of the blog! 2024 has been an especially remarkable year for the blog, as it not only saw a total glow-up but I was also approved to run Google AdSense, meaning I'm able to earn a tiny bit from my posts; though far from enough to make a livable income, it's a good start and pretty darn motivating to be earning something for my writing. I've learned a lot about writing over these six years, and I think it's fair to say that th