Spitballing Past Writer’s Block

Here’s a tip for when writer’s block has seized you in creative paralysis.

One day this past summer, I suffered from a mid-story blockage. I’d written what felt like half a story, but was unsure of where the action should go, unable to see what my characters should do. Taking a break from doing nothing, I watched the trailer for Aaron Sorkin’s Masterclass. In the clip he tells the group of writers to toss out lousy ideas (paraphrasing). Like a wet gob of paper shot into the eye, the solution to my struggles struck: Spitballing.

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Read “Sap, Syrup, Sentiment & Such” in Peeking Cat Poetry Magazine #18

Peeking Cat Poetry Magazine #18

Thanks to Sam Rose for publishing my poem “Sap, Syrup, Sentiment & Such” in the Peeking Cat Poetry Magazine, Issue #18. Buy your copy here (or click around and find the free PDF version, ya cheapskate).

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Read “Bird in the Works” in Cheat River Review

Cheat River Review #5

Cheat River Review is affiliated with the MFA program at West Virginia University. Many thanks to them for publishing my story, “Bird in the Works,” in their Fall 2015 issue. Read the story here (I hope you enjoy) and then browse the others.

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Michael Stackpole’s Secrets

Michael J. Stackpole

Do you struggle to shape your disparate ideas into book-length plots? Get practical advice on how it’s done from the guy whose Star Wars books inspired the upcoming film.

For almost two decades, I obsessively read books and blogs about writing in search of clues to unlocking genius. A few years ago, I realized there must also be podcasts about writing–still a new media form at the time. Sure enough, I searched a keyword combination that led to just such a podcast, produced by Michael Stackpole.

Idea Generation: Taking a Page from Journalists

Reporters fascinated me as a kid. I’d see them on TV, at press conferences or interviewing pedestrians or whatever, and they clung to every word. And their tools of the trade were glued to their hands: the pen and notebook.