Writing Life

“The customer is always right” doesn’t mean what most people think—and for authors, understanding what it actually means changes how you write, market, and respond to feedback about your book audience.

Ideas can’t be copyrighted, patented, or stolen—because they don’t have inherent value. Here’s what does, how to get unlimited writing ideas for free, and why hoarding your best ones is holding you back.

What do you do when a book you love was written by a problematic author? Here are six concrete strategies for reading ethically without burning your whole TBR to the ground.

The writing you read is the end of a long process. The writing you create is the beginning. Here’s why comparing them is killing your progress—and what to do instead.

Three wildly different famous writers, three writing habits worth stealing. Here's what Hunter S. Thompson's retyping drill, Le Guin's daily schedule, and Bradbury's dedicated writing space can teach any writer about building a sustainable practice.

Aphantasia means the mind's eye is completely dark—no mental images, ever. Here's what reading and writing fiction is actually like when you can't visualize anything, and the surprising ways it shapes the craft.

You don't need an MFA, a day job in publishing, or a daily writing compulsion to call yourself a writer. Here are six "real writer" myths debunked—and the only thing that actually makes you one.

Stuck in the middle of your draft and can't move forward? This one writer's block trick will get you unstuck and back to writing in minutes.

Can't seem to finish what you start? Here's a 4-step system for setting a writing deadline that actually works — and breaking your project down until it's done.

Before query letters, agents, or book covers: every writer needs to complete their first draft before they can pursue getting published.

The first step to doing anything well — including writing — is being absolutely terrible at it. A professional editor makes the case for writing badly, consistently, without worrying about quality, and explains why comparing your work to published books is like comparing rhubarb to rhubarb pie.

Writers make three common comparisons that quietly destroy their confidence — comparing their drafts to published books, to peers in their writing group, and to writers at a similar age or stage. Here's why those comparisons are unfair, and two useful comparisons you can make instead.