I love writing. I love teaching. I love teaching writing. I love listening to writers talk about their manuscripts. I love problem solving with writers. I love the delicacy and boldness of writing. These tips are things I’ve learned over the years that have held me in good stead and kept me going through the hard dry times. I hope they help you.

And hey, they are only one minute long. Click here.

A lot of writing teachers say: Show don’t tell. Meaning that you need to reveal your character’s nature through action rather than telling the reader. I get it. And often beginning writers need to spend more time writing scenes and developing that story telling muscle. But really. Every novel is a combination of both showing and telling. It’s important to show characters in scenes going after what they want, struggling, interacting because readers love to be a fly on the wall observing humanity. But readers also love it when they are taken into a character’s inner narration. They love being told the deeper story. You have to do both as writer. Show AND tell.