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I'm currently reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. That sentence alone should give you insight into my emotional state. I've empathized and connected with the panoply of characters that inhabit this tome. This engaging, dynamic, completely enthralling piece of classic American literature. To be clear: I'm not a fan of Westerns. Even during my decade working in film production, the Western genre was a blind spot in my filmic encyclopedia. I could name the greats, but not t

The idea strikes you in the middle of the night. Your eyes open, a faraway rhythm pulls you from sleep and you have to write. You are compelled to develop an idea, to create a choreography on the page from a sequence of words only you and the muse understand. Thus, the dance begins. The pursuit of an idea, to craft a story from an image or a line of dialogue that arrived with no provocation. Like the wind, you cannot see it, but you know it exists. Now, the journey becomes, h

Burn out is real. In America, our lifestyle is very go go go go go....then go some more. Five day work weeks that spiral into two day weekends when we attempt to pack in all the life we couldn't experience Monday to Friday. Then there's the day jobs, the responsibilities that we must attend to, the blessings we prayed for, the unforeseen circumstances that require immediate attention, and the side hustles that are either dreams or making some real money. So when do we rest? O

When starting a new idea, the initial seed of a thought can come from anywhere. It could emerge from an intriguing article. It could be spurred by an odd turn of phrase. It could even appear in the middle of the night from a dream. So after we receive this rush of inspirational energy, what do we do with it? How can we know that we are on the right track in developing an idea? There are some telltale signs. First, it feels good to write it. The words flow with ease, you barel

So, you've been thinking of a setting. Maybe it's a cabin that someone (you don't know who) built many eons ago, made from space wood. Wood that defies gravity, maybe. And the main character, an astronaut escaping a bad marriage (or trauma or a significant loss) back on earth, has landed on Mars and stumbled upon this cabin. But Mars is uninhabitable, so who could be living in this cabin. Is that smoke pillowing upwards from the chimney? Why is there a chimney? Isn't the air

This world is fickle. There's a new trend every week, a 24-hour news cycle, and ever-changing takes on what story should be, existence will be, and humanity currently means. What is good will be bad in a few months; what is a lie may become truth given enough time; what is considered success now could be amateur hour in the near future. But what does it mean to be steadfast in our writing amidst all that upheaval? It's no secret that this market can shift quicker than a catam

Have you ever been on those walks where you thought it was a stroll with a specific destination? It can't be more than 20 minutes, you mutter internally as you amble down the sidewalk, wondering if you should have brought a jacket. There's a cold wind and these shoes probably weren't right and you think 20 minutes was 20 minutes ago, so when are you actually getting there? Where's there? There is a location, an accomplishment, an achievement that feels like an ending. A punct

When I started the daily writing journey, I didn't think there would be much mystery to solve. Yes, it would take discipline. Yes, there would be days that I didn't want to write. Yes, there would be words that would inevitably get deleted, but for now, just focus on getting them down on the page. But on days like today, which of course is a Wednesday (when I wrote this post), I don't have the desire to write. Nor do I have anything in my mind to write. I usually can imagine

My first week into writing every day has resulted in daily words, yes. But underneath those words emerges an even more intriguing quandary: the search for truth. As writers, we specialize in verisimilitude. Verisimilitude is one of my favorite 2 dollar words and it sounds like what it means. It is the sense of truth in any fictional situation. The "truthy-ness" of it all. Could a reader or viewer reasonably believe this situation would occur? Or does this string of words into

If you've spent any time researching writing crafts or adages from seasoned, published writers, there is a common theme: one should write every day. Of course, that is a valid strategy. A writer should ensure that they are at least spending a few minutes every day at their writing desk (or in front of their computer/with a pen to paper), writing down something. It doesn't have to be good. It doesn't have to be complete. It just has to get written. But what about when life get