THE OBLIGATION TO WRITE
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Sometimes, when Mister Words reads his old stuff, he doesn’t remember writing it. And sometimes I think it’s good. I’ll marvel at a particular word choice or phrase, pondering “Where…
Read More SO IT GOES
Here’s one of the best pieces of advice Mister Words has ever seen on the subject of creativity, courtesy of the late, great Kurt Vonnegut: In 2006 a high school English…
Read More LIFE IS NOT A GENRE
Mister Words is not a big fan of writing critique groups. I know they work well for some authors, but you need to get really lucky to land in the…
Read More TEN BOOKS THAT HAVE STAYED WITH ME
Recently a thread has been bumping around on social media called “Ten Books that Have Stayed with You.” This doesn’t necessarily refer to the ten greatest books you’ve ever read,…
Read More THE MANY MEANINGS OF SUCCESS
About 20 percent of what Mister Words discusses with his writing coaching clients involves technical problems — dialogue, characterization, plot, subtext, voice and the like. The other 80 percent? Emotional…
Read More THE NAME GAME
Character names are more important than many authors, especially beginning ones, realize. I read a book a few years back in which most of the main characters were given two…
Read More THE MYTH OF TIME AND THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
I’ve often said that marketing a book is like running for office—mostly grass roots appearances (sometimes in readers’ homes), rubber chicken lunches and book store signings where patrons generally ask…
Read More SEVEN SECRETS SUCCESSFUL WRITERS USE TO BUILD AN EFFECTIVE PLATFORM.
What is a platform? Being the architect of your project is only the first step to your success as a writer or artist. Your platform is your connection to the…
Read More THINKING OF STARTING A BLOG?
A while back a friend of mine emailed me and asked me about setting up a simple blog style website. Since I’ve built hundreds of personal websites from scratch over…
Read More WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS?
Over the course of his writing career, Mister Words has conducted dozens, if not hundreds, of author presentations, workshops, seminars, Q & A’s, panel discussions and many more public appearances.…
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