Societal Progress Is Not Linear

Picture of a pendulum in a circular pit, by Mike Von

Nowadays, it can feel like the precious societal progress we thought we’d achieved has been inexorably slipping backwards. Extreme conservatism and hate in the US, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the unwillingness to act to ensure our species’ survival keep…

Oh, Picard

Now that the trailer for the second season of Star Trek: Picard is upon us, I feel the time is right to unleash a rant about my one big gripe with season one, which I enjoyed overall. So Timely Yes,…

Writing the Truth at This Time in History

Discussing our craft feels small and unimportant at the moment. Protests over the deaths of George Floyd and so many others have been taking place all over the country for more than a week. They are even now erupting in…

What Have I Been up To?

It’s been a while since I wrote on my blog. What have I been up to since last we met? A novel, twice finished These past few months, I was working on my first novel. Again. I previously thought it…

When Is My Manuscript Good Enough?

Books take a lot of work. Months ago, I declared my first novel complete. The manuscript had gone through two full drafts, many changes, and as much revision as it took for the text to feel finished. I was proud…

How Much Should I Write?

Advice on this matter varies. In his book On Writing, Stephen King alleges he starts the day writing and does nothing else until he has put 2,000 words to the page. This amounts to doing NaNoWriMo all year long. Even…

Should I Write an Outline?

Should you write an outline for your book? This question is of interest to many early writers, and for good reason: building an outline and proceeding without one imply very different styles of writing. Planning Your Trip Having an outline…

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