Pushing The Envelope In Fiction; Navigating A PC-Centric Media Universe

[This article was originally published at civilianreader.com]

So you're going to be a writer? Awesome. You are never going to please everyone, so own it; the thin-skinned have no business being authors (or auteurs). Words have put the most popular and successful authors on the painful side of a controversy (Sometimes it's intentional.) That said...keep an open mind to the opinions of critics and friends. If you are going to create fictional scenarios that skirt the edge of mass acceptance, know why you are writing those actions. When George R.R. Martin decided to have brother and sister lovers in Game of Thrones, he was setting up the premise of the entire series. The question of legitimate authority and unraveling of Westeros as a society came out of that relationship. Everything that happens in your story, no matter how taboo, should serve the narrative.

Writing Through Hurricanes, Grumpy Spouses, And Maniacal Bosses: Finding Your Default Self

 [The following blog was first published at mylifemybooksmyescape on  Monday Aug. 29th, 2016.]

The universe is trying to keep you from writing. It will throw all manner of distraction and chaos at you, bind you with obligations--girlfriends who cry neglect, boyfriends who threaten to step out on your monogamy, bosses who insist that your not getting the work done in 40 hours is your fault not the workload. You will try to reason with the universe, work out a mutual arrangement where you borrow three hours here and two hours there to ply your craft--but the universe is a fickle bitch that knows full well you need uninterrupted blocks of time with which to craft your tales--time to let your story ferment and then time for revisions. You need a thousand hours to write two hundred decent pages. Lie to the universe, steal the time you need, sacrifice personal pleasure and socializing, and then maybe...maybe, you will have a story of note at the end of the run.

Tweep Nation: Interview With Dionne & Amber

My interview with Tweep Nation is up. Many thanks to Dionne Lister and Amber Norrgard for a fun hour and driving me to drink. (It's all good!) Hope you budding writers out there hear something useful that you can apply to your art. And special thanks to Dionne for her gushing praise of my novel AWAKENINGS. It's episode 42 and can be accessed through iTunes. Enjoy.