screed-writing two-point-oh

Handwritten email

You have something to say, dammit! Now, if what you have to say is in the nature of something directed at one particular person, or if it’s something really intimate about your own thoughts, viewpoints, not the kind of thing you want to share with the masses, don’t hesitate to write it down. If you … Read more

Personal messages: don’t publish them online. Please. Don’t.

Social media vs Personal letters

It is rather annoying, in my opinion, when people publish personal love letters on their social media pages. Like I have a friend that, every year, publishes a long, lovey-dovey message to her husband on their anniversary. Gross. Publishing that publicly is exactly like saying: “I want the world at large to appreciate my extraordinary … Read more

Don’t interrupt me!

Writer

Do you have one of those friends that are always saying “don’t interrupt me” when you’re having a conversation with them? On your side of things, you’re thinking— conversations are all about interrupting. You say something, I say something, you say something, etc. It’s not supposed to be a diatribe. It’s a conversation! These “don’t … Read more

AI Will Not Replace Me

AI Robot

In a conversation, recently, a friend suggested that Chat GPT was going to replace me pretty soon. I had to laugh. There are some very good reasons why a robot can’t replace me, and I think this is important to talk about for the sake of writers and creative people everywhere. People seem to think … Read more

Three Easy Pieces

number three

Over the last little while, I’ve been passively writing. You know what I mean–I’m composing these things, they’re kind of like philosophical essays, in my head, but I don’t write them down because I’m in the fiction/nonfiction business. I’m not Alan Watts, for God’s sakes. Where would I publish such thoughts? And who would care … Read more

Three Pitfalls of Pop Psychoanalysis

analyst's couch

My mother’s nickname in our family was “the dog psychologist,” because whenever our dog behaved strangely she always had some complicated explanation for how it must be feeling based upon the traumas she imagined it had experienced before we got it from the pound. This sounds familiar, right? We love to put people, animals, friends, … Read more

How to Write Memoir Short Stories

spines of short books

I have a friend that’s a composer. I once asked him, “How do you know how to blend together the violin and the french horn and the kettle drum and all those different instruments?” He looked at me funny and replied, “You go to graduate school.” What he meant by that was: “It’s complicated!” That’s … Read more

How to Write a Story, not an Essay

dune buggy on dirt

I have begun teaching the second wave of classes in my ongoing series. The second wave, which I call “Writers in Action” is an actual critique session, where, in a group setting, I look at student work with a view to how well students are embodying the lessons learned in the free technique classes I … Read more