Category: Articles on Writing

  • Want to read an inspirational story about a writer and his work?

    Ray Anthony and how he became a writer, in his own words. The rest of his site. I loved this. I hope you do, too.

  • Evolution of a Knitter: A Year of Sweaters

    A Writing Allegory First there was the cheap sweater. I needed a sweater in the autumn of 2005, so I made one. I didn’t use a pattern, because I’d never used a pattern. I finished it the way you would sew together a shirt, because not only am I totally self-taught as a knitter, but…

  • Why do you rant?

    I got an email wanting to know why I put the occasional political or social-issue rant into a writing blog. I’ve previously had blog guests ask me the same question in comments. The answer goes like this. I hate politics. I hate social-issue strife. For years I lived in a voluntary news blackout zone, because…

  • Quantum Entanglement, God Immanent, and Talking Socks

    So I got to reading about quantum entanglement and thinking about how it could be used in with worldbuilding to create a magic system. Quantum entanglement is the extraordinarily cool fact that quanta—the very, very smallest, indivisible particles that are force carriers for the matter of the universe—form connected pairs, and these pairs have connections…

  • How I Became A Reader (and a Writer)

    Like the other people who have answered this question, my relationship with education was an odd one, and my introduction to reading started early. My mother taught me to read by getting me a Dr. Seuss Books subscription–one book in the Dr. Seuss line-up came to our house every month, and went into rotation with…

  • Inspiration Revisited

    I’m bringing in and categorizing posts from the old Silent Bounce weblog, preparatory to deleting it pretty soon. Came across this favorite post, and thought I’d return it to your attention, as a reminder that odds are beatable, and you are exactly the person to beat them.

  • Real Fear vs. Fake Fear

    Superb essay, and funny as hell — a must-read for writers. And readers. Maybe breathers, too.

  • So Maybe One Is the New Three

    Woke up at one AM today. Went to sleep at nine PM last night, after having woken up at three AM the night before. Here I am. What the hell? I’m physically tired, but wide, wide awake. I’ve had four hours of sleep. That’s nowhere near enough. But my mind won’t shut up, so I’m…

  • So … Where DO You Get Your Ideas?

    There are no stupid questions. Okay — there are a few stupid questions. If you walk into the dollar store, where there is an enormous sign on the door that says “EVERYTHING ONE DOLLAR” and you ask the clerk for a price check on an item, you have asked a stupid question. But there are…

  • When the Story Starts with No Words

    How to brainstorm a novel using Inspiration