October's Writing Voice exercise Hi Reader, It's October already. Cue the pumpkin spice, sweaters, and in my neighborhood, insanely escalating Halloween decorations. (Seriously. One of our neighbors carves so many pumpkins that USA Today wrote about them! No pressure...) Instead of pumpkins, I'm offering a grab bag of resources for writers: a challenge, a conference, a book, and of course a writing exercise. Let's dive in. Novel November is almost here! Do you dream of writing a quick first...
15 days ago • 1 min read
Mid-September writing practices Need a little help getting going (or keeping going) on your writing, Reader? I've got you covered. I'd already drafted this week's post about "a day's work" when I read Amie McNee's Substack post about how an appearance on a giant podcast didn't generate book sales. (You may have seen it.) Of course, then I had to buy her book, We Need Your Art. And, I loved it. It's a perfect companion to this week's Writing Practices post! And, reading it definitely energized...
29 days ago • 1 min read
September's writing voice exercise Happy September, Reader! It doesn't matter how long I've been away from school calendars (a long time), or that the schools near me open their doors in early August—September always feels like a restart, a refresh, a return. Do you feel it, too? What will this new season bring to your writing life? Maybe this month's voice exercise will inspire you to explore. September's exercise: Playing with presence We cannot talk about writing voice without accounting...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Mid-August Writing Practices August greetings, Reader, I can practically feel the push-pull of September in these middle days of August. School has started, coaching clients are lining up, yet no one wants to give up on summer yet. I sure don't. This writing practice was inspired by hiking. Hope you find it fun and useful. The August give-away books My friend, I have done a terrible job of soliciting reviews for my last two books. The Writer's Voice is shy of the 50-review goal so many...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
August's Writing Voice exercise Happy August, Reader! Because August should still be fun, this month's Writing Voice exercise should feel like play. At least, I hope it does! Try on a new voice (or three) How do we discover the depth and breadth of our own writing voice? Often, by trying on the voices of others. This month's exercise asks you to pick a few extreme characters and see how they might comment on your life. Click here to read the post online If you'd rather watch than read, watch...
2 months ago • 1 min read
July's Writing Practice and Book Give-away Hello Reader, What's distracting you from writing these days? Sunny weather and open trails calling you outdoors? Excessive heat draining your energy? Road trips or family gatherings? Protests? The siren call of a good book? Whatever it is, today's post might help you make peace with the fact you're not writing as much as you'd hoped, if that's true for you. First, though, I have a book give-away you might enjoy. The Book Drawing: Algospeak The New...
3 months ago • 1 min read
The July Writing Voice exercise Hello Reader, We're past the halfway point of 2025 — are you doing the writing you want to do? Even if your time is constrained with work or family, protests or vacation, you can always find a few moments for journaling and writing voice exercises! No matter what your summer holds, I hope you'll take a moment to try the fun "voice" exercise for July. Flip your intentions Everything we write has an intention behind it. When we flip the intention on its head,...
4 months ago • 1 min read
Hi friend, When I was a kid, every summer I would check out a giant pile of books from the library for the long drive up to northern Wisconsin. I could actually read in the car back then, stretched out on the back deck of the family station wagon, surrounded by luggage. Now, I load up on audiobooks for summer road trips. My favorite place to do that is Chirp — a discount audiobook site. No membership or subscription, just audiobooks, and lots of them. And they run a lot of limited-time, steep...
4 months ago • 1 min read
Writing practices for dedicated writers Happy mid-June, Reader. As we approach the solstice, I bring you a few things to brighten your day in uncertain times: An almost-free audiobook A give-away book Encouragement to branch out Let's dive in. The Writer's Process audiobook for 99 cents Did you know there's an audiobook of The Writer's Process, my best-known book? I'm basically giving it away for the next few weeks on a service called Chirp (for listeners in the US and Canada). If you don't...
4 months ago • 1 min read