Are You Actually Going To Write A Book Or Just Talk About It?

When you’re a writer, and you tell people that you are, you end up getting a lot of people asking questions about it.

And when you tell them that you’ve written, like, 20 novels/novellas, you get the obvious question:

How did you do it?

Well, here’s how I did it, in book form:

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I’m Scared To Write A New Book

Let’s talk about my writing history here. I don’t mean it as a brag, not much anyway. It’s just context, and it’s interesting context.

I spent about 2 years writing like a madman. A book a month or so. Massive, massive amounts of content. I kept it going even through some pretty intense exhaustion, and I don’t regret that.

But there came a day when I was working on a book and I wasn’t exactly blocked, I was just…off. I felt tired of it, unwilling, though not unable, to write another book. The stories I already created, that only I had seen, felt like they were staring at me with menace. Like they were angry with me for letting them rot and gather dust. Continue reading

I Want To Do More

It’s not that I am not productive and active and such in my life. Not as though I fail to have meaningful contributions. I’d like to think I lead an existence that’s not particularly slothful—but my own ability to do as much as I would want in any given day bugs me to no end.

For instance, sure, you know of the one book I’ve written—I’d hope—but I’ve actually written somewhere in the ballpark of 20-25 novels/novellas in just two years’ time. But my editing skills and my speed at it are so slow, and I can’t seem to get a good schedule going, that there’s only one book you know about right now. Continue reading

Demystifying Creativity

Some may disagree with me doing this. Some may become alienated as my experiences do not match up to theirs close enough. And some might simply be mad at me for some other reasons that if I were to guess, I’d likely be wrong about it anyway.

I’m gonna demystify creativity. Continue reading

My Phobias

Someone once told me that horror writing, good horror writing, often involves writing about what personally scares oneself.

I don’t apply this rule very much.

Partially because I don’t enjoy scaring myself—and partially because my fears are not all that interesting. They are mundane, mostly.

But hey, it’s almost Halloween, let’s have some fun.

I hate/fear/cower from the following. Continue reading

Burning Your Candle

I used to be able to push myself to five in the morning, every single day. I did this for months, always hating it, always wishing I did not have to be up that late. But, behold, that was what always happened.

Fucking inescapable.

It’s still happening, and it is my own fault. I’ve probably (but I’m not sure) mentioned this before on the blog, but I subscribe to a thing I call “The Dailies.” They are activities that I must accomplish, no matter how sleepy I am, no matter what, within a cycle of me being awake. Continue reading

Tear It All Down–Why I Wrote The Book I Did

Sometimes I write articles to answer questions in a place I can always point to later. And, lately, a question I’ve gotten a few times is “what made you write this book?” So, here’s the answer: to tear down an old cliché.

I make no bones about this, I am tired of stories with “being the chosen one” as the reason for a protagonist to be a protagonist. Characters that are talented, characters that are part of an elite group: that’s fine. Stories about average joes are not the only type of tale, and it would be boring if they were. But, specifically, what ground my gears when I began writing Just Another Chosen One were those tales of heroes who would always win in the end.

“Destined” to save the world.

Where’re the real stakes there? Continue reading

Odd Stuff I’ve Said

I’m guessing some would recommend I don’t write about this, but, well, you all know I’m eccentric as it is—so, fuck it. Writers already have the stigma of being a weird bunch, but you’ve heard, likely, all the usual shenanigans—so, I’m doing you one better.

Not just researching murder methods, talking to people who they make up, or being totally willing to do dangerous/stupid things for the sake of a story: nah, I’ve got a set of much more unique quirks.

And it involves words and language. Continue reading