Getting Unstuck

Getting Unstuck

My writing coach client was closing in on the end of her novel. Like a pony heading back to the barn, she had picked up her pace and was clipping right along. Until she got stuck, and her writing slowed and then stopped. She was on the road with her husband when she...
Creative Mashup

Creative Mashup

A few months ago, a close friend treated me to a performance of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton as a thank-you for helping her after knee surgery. I’ve wanted to see the groundbreaking musical since it came out to raves and record-breaking awards ten years ago. The idea...
Active Writing

Active Writing

Most people aren’t used to—or comfortable with—active writing and what I call story-showing. They’d much rather recount a sequence of events rather than chronicle them in a way that a reader can vicariously experience. “I don’t know how to write that way,” most of my...
Writing Lessons From My Dogs—Do It!

Writing Lessons From My Dogs—Do It!

After a summer of almost no wildfire smoke—a welcome reprieve after a number of bad ones—a fire way too close to neighboring Sisters and just 20 miles from Bend, coupled with another one 100 miles to the West, nailed us. If the wind was blowing smoke from the nearby...
Self-Publishing an Audiobook

Self-Publishing an Audiobook

Audio books are the fastest growing sector of the book publishing business, which makes total sense when you consider the increasing numbers of baby boomers who are now nearsighted and the fact that they’re far from the only age group that likes to listen to books....