Making a return to writing after a long time away can feel overwhelming or even bewildering. Depending on the reasons for your break, you may be confronting a wide array of emotions—everything from anticipation and excitement to trepidation and confusion. If you find yourself worried or uncertain about how to proceed, the first step is simply to acknowledge those feelings. As you may know, I recently returned to fiction writing after a lengthy break. My break was precipitated by the stress of difficult life circumstances, combined with writer’s block from a complicated story. The first few yea ..read more

To be a writer, one must do two things: write and, perhaps surprisingly, not write. Usually, we champion the first and demonize the second with much fear and trembling, giving it dread labels such as “writer’s block.” The implication is that, for a writer, not writing is about as bad as it gets. The truth, however, is nuanced. I have been waiting to write this post for a very long time—four years, in fact. I have been waiting because I knew it was a post I could not properly write until I overcame my own lengthy writer’s block and could speak about the lessons it was teaching me. From my persp ..read more

Some of the questions I am asked most frequently are, “How can I find a writing buddy? Where did you find your own critique partners? Help! I need beta readers!” And, yes, as you may have noticed, that last isn’t a question so much as a desperate plea for help. I noticed too! Need a Writing Buddy? You’re Not Alone! Writing is a solitary life, which means it’s especially nice to send out a ping and hear a friendly echo in return. It reminds us we’re really all in this crazy adventure together. Even more specifically, writers need the help of one another. None of us is able to edi ..read more

For the past five years or so, I have opened every new year with a post looking back on the lessons I have learned in the previous year. What began as just another idea for a blog post has become one of my most treasured rituals. Every year when I sit down to write this post, I enjoy looking back over the previous twelve months and taking the opportunity to share the highlights (and sometimes the lowlights) with all of you. And every year, I wonder, What will I write in next year’s post? For all of us, these last few years have been intense. For me, the intensity really began several years bef ..read more

We made it! Welcome to the end of 2022! After the many notably momentous years that preceded it, 2022 was for me a “sleeper” year—both in the sense that it was much quieter and less externally eventful, but also in that it still ended up surprising me with the deep changes and transformations it has wrought particularly on an internal level. I’ll be sharing some of those insights and lessons next week in my annual New Year post. My most exciting news this year is that, after what pretty much amounted to a four-year dry spell, I started writing fiction again! I’ll share a bit more about that n ..read more

Dear Wordplayers! This week, I am wishing you a merry Christmas and a beautiful holiday season. My hope is that as you look back on this year, you find it rich in blessings, memories, good surprises, growth opportunities, and wonderful stories of every kind. A cold and snowy Nebraska sunrise. As always, this time of year is a retrospective for me. What did I accomplish? What did I learn? Did my plans turn out how I thought they would? Better? Worse? This year, most of my answers to these questions are “a little of both.” This was the year I started writing fiction again after a nearly four-y ..read more

This year-end round-up of my “top books” is always one of my favorite posts to write. I always look forward to the retrospective of my year, not just because I get to remember everything I read, but also because my memories of my actual life are so intertwined with what I read. (When I’m trying to remember when something happened in my life, I will often ask, “What was I reading at the time?”—then I can look up the book in my reading log and find the date.) As I’m still in between permanent living circumstances, most of my books are in boxes. This has been a mixed blessing. For the first time ..read more

I admit it. I drool over Pinterest pictures of dreamy libraries and studies. Sometimes I google “writer’s offices” for inspiration about the best places to write, in search of that perfect writing space that will magnetize me to my desk and make me want to stay curled up with my work-in-progress for endless hours of storytelling. Of course, it doesn’t really work that way. Even though I’m a neatnik sort of person who enjoys interior decorating, my office experiences never quite look like the Pinterest version. There’s dust, there’s crumbs. Even worse, there are distractions. There’s, you know ..read more

Buying that perfect Christmas gift is always a challenge, but if someone on your list this year is a writer (or if that writer is you), here are some ideas straight from my top-ten list of personal faves. The following were gifts from thoughtful family and friends who know I’m a writer and chose accordingly. (Admittedly, not all of these were Christmas gifts, and actually a few I bought for myself, but who’s keeping score…?) The Top 10 Writing Gifts I’ve Ever Received (Some links are Amazon affiliate links.) 1. Scrivener I’ve long loved this all-purpose writing software, with its supreme adap ..read more

This week, in the U.S., we celebrate Thanksgiving. I find I have much to be thankful for this year. I’m thankful for the work I’m able to do, for all of you who read this site and my books, for your support and encouragement and confirmation in so many ways. I say this every year, but I truly would not be able to do what I do without all of you. I thank you for showing up, for reading and listening, for finding what I’m sharing meaningful, for sharing your own passion and wisdom in return, for offering support through Patreon or by purchasing my books. This year, I’m also grateful for all the ..read more