Authorship Posts
Writing advice and the writing life: craft, grammar, editing, character archetypes, independent publishing, finding readers, and what it means to be the author of your own work.
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The Ruler Archetype
From Horatio Hornblower to Captain Janeway to Red Reznikov: the archetype of leadership, and why the Ruler's power is a relationship, not a possession.
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The Perfect Murder: Editing Your Screenplay
Your script consultant says cut 25 pages. Screenwriter Jeanne V. Bowerman shares eleven ways to edit a screenplay with a serial killer's efficiency, and leave no fingerprints.
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Reader Comments: Honest, Open and Immediate
Blogger Kelly DeBie on anonymous blog comments, Facebook debates, and why the instant, honest feedback of online publishing keeps her writing.
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Success Is a Process
Why finishing a book can feel scarier than starting one, and how shy writers can turn the last page into a first step toward readers, with advice from Jody Aberdeen and Rob Hines.
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What Was the Holy Grail Before It Was Holy?
The first Grail story never calls it holy or even clearly a cup. How a golden serving dish became the cup of Christ—and what that teaches writers about myth.
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How to Buy Artwork From Your Family or Friends Without Being a Dick
A painter's survival guide to being asked for free murals: what commissioning art actually costs in skill, time, and materials.
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On Being Happy
A meditation on a father's turbulent past and peaceful present, painted in sailboats and calm seas, and what his happiness taught his daughter.
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Post Apocalyptic or Post-Apocalyptic or Postapocalyptic?
A tongue-in-cheek case for dropping the hyphen from "post-apocalyptic"—and why search engines and plain laziness might matter more than the rulebook.
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For the Love of Money and/or Self-Publication
From cash-paid pizza murals to Amazon candles, an indie author weighs what self-publishing earns per hour against what books keep.
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The Authority of Authors
Author and authority share a Latin root: someone who causes something to exist. A look at who controls the narrative and the power writers wield on the page.
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The Magician: The Archetype of Transformation
From Merlin's hidden knowledge to Frankenstein's overreach to Ren's inner alchemy: the archetype of transformation, and why good and evil were never the point.
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Confirmed Independent Publisher
A librarian-turned-writer looks back at a bookmobile patron, a fake reptilian finance book, and five years of false starts before going independent.
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The Everyman: The Anchor of the Story
From Pearson's "Realist" to medieval morality plays to Samwise Gamgee: the archetype of continuity, and why writers keep mistaking ordinary for unimportant.
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I Wrote This Post in Virtual Reality
A sci-fi author tries to write inside a Meta Quest 3, fails through every "obvious" input method, and ends up with a grudging respect for the tech.
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The Nine Parts of Speech and the F Word
A shamelessly profane grammar lesson proving that one very specific word can stand in for all nine parts of speech.