Here's a collection of some of the things I've picked up over the years. Most are from my personal experience as a writer and then editor. I filed the serial numbers off most of the stories. It's to protect the innocent and guilty alike!

I will be adding to this page as topics occur to me, so feel free to bookmark and check back to see what's new.

Feel free to share this page link with writing groups and message boards, and I would greatly appreciate if you shared the link itself rather than copying and pasting lengthy quotes. The reason is purely mercenary, I'm hoping lots of visitors will feel kindly toward a starving artist and consider leaving a "tip" via the convenient Paypal whatsit on the right hand column.

• Present Tense Fans
• Naming Characters
• The Eyes Don't Have it
• Avoid This Stuff
• Top Reasons for Rejections
• Bestseller ≠ Good Writing
• Pros Behaving Badly
• Words I Never Want to See Again
• How Not to Write Dialog
• Desperately Seeking Cover Blurbs
• Make it an EPIC fail!
• Bad Dreams, Worse Wakings
• No Trolls, Please, We're Writers
• Help Wanted: Editor
• Publishing Re-invented!
• When NOT to Hire an Editor