Dear You, Please Stop Trying to Sound Like Everyone Else Ask any of my friends, and they will agree with a unanimous vote: I LOVE to troll everyone. And I mean everyone, including my readers. Nothing makes me happier than instilling sarcasm throughout my work whenever I can, because, well, it's me . My novel literally starts with a metaphor on cow manure. The fear that writers often face (including myself) is whether our voice is too much, whether it's not enough, whether we'

Reframing Weird The moment you were told to "tone it down" It was probably a workshop, right? Someone said, "Hm, I'm not sure this voice is working." Or, maybe it was, "She sounds too immature, why would she say / do that?" It's a tale as old as time. Here's a quick translation of what those comments (and similar variations) mean: You're over-saturating a story element or characterization. The people critiquing your work are not your target audience. The second one is especia

Some of the best writing retreats come from resets, not results. Try taking a gentler approach and focus on being present, not obsessed with progress. I just got back from a five-day writing retreat in Louisiana with my best writing friends, and I'm deep in the post-retreat blues. I met this group back in October 2024 when we were selected for the Masterclass in Novel Writing through UCLA Extension, and we've spent every week together for the past ten months. Basically, we kn