Quick Writing Tips Free Video Series

Looking for some quick, easy ways to improve your writing? Here’s a free series of short (each is under 5 minutes) writing tips videos. They focus on some of the most common prose problems that I’ve seen writers struggle with over my two decades of teaching creative writing. My goal in making these videos was […]

I’m now a Talkabook author!

Talkabook is a new way to connect with authors in interactive, virtual visits. I’m also continuing my normal in-person and virtual Author Visit options for schools, libraries, and reading groups, but Talkabook is another way to connect personally and virtually. With Talkabook you can bring me (or other authors) out to a gathering, a writing group, […]

The One Thing I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Creating Characters

There’s a lot of conflicting advice out there about characters. Do you make them quirky and unusual (like Amelia Bedelia), or more ordinary  (like Charlie Brown)? Do you make them heroic (someone readers might aspire to be, like Katniss), or deeply flawed (like FH in Jesus’s Son)? Do you make them raw and human (like […]