“When your story is ready for rewrite, cut it to the bone. Get rid of every ounce of excess fat. This is going to hurt; revising a story down to the bare essentials is always a little like murdering children, but it must be done.” —Stephen King, WD Well that’s a bit morbid, but he speaks the truth. I believe wholeheartedly that you should “get rid of every ounce of excess fat.” Keep what is absolutely necessary; the stuff that is relevant to your story, the stuff that will k

All too often, I find myself falling into a rut when I’m trying to write. I’ll be pumping out pages, feeling like the most awesome writer in the world, and then it’ll stop. The motivation just seeps out of me and I feel a bit hollow. Anyone else experience that? Well, today I want to address some ways to help you get back in the game. And surprisingly, most of this will be focusing on things that you can do outside of writing. Exercise Yes, the dreaded ‘E’ word. At least for

We have all taken a writing hiatus, maybe even a few or a dozen. I’ve taken more than a few. Some because of pure laziness and others due to life’s endless demands, events, changes, and what-have-you. Whatever the reason was though, I know that without writing in my life I was always filled with a sense of anxiety. That same feeling I get when I sense I’m forgetting something, like a doctors appointment I was supposed to be at or my sons shoes that are absolutely necessary be

The world was a mess of bright lights and distant screams. The garbage-littered park was awash with people skipping merrily in the filth. Amid the laughs and sweetheart smacking, a gloom of the inevitable hung over the crowd. There might be a tragedy tonight. So we enjoy the last night of the fair. I could taste the cigarette ash deep fried in Jimbe’s signature deluxe burger. I took another bite into the dry beef, careful not to let the excess mayonnaise and mustard dribble d