The Stakes Nov 30, 2008 Writing Notes From Blake Snyder: “If you are not getting 4-10 responses for every 100 email or query letter you send — it’s not the agent, it’s your pitch!” 10,000 Hours Nov 27, 2008 Writing Notes Malcolm Gladwell says in his new book Outliers that researchers believe that takes about 10,000 hours or 10 years of hard practice to develop Why aren’t you writing? Nov 26, 2008 Writing Notes That is the question that has been on my mind a lot lately. I hope to find some reasons and solutions over the next little while The Great Debate Nov 16, 2008 Personal There is the side that you want to be right and there is the side that you know to be right. Where those two meet, there is bliss More Sep 3, 2008 Writing Notes Here is the deadline I want you to keep in your head. What do you really want to be doing with your life? Is it the job you are in or is there more? What is an Action? Aug 28, 2008 Writing Notes It is what is required to obtain the character’s want, goal, or need. In the end, they may not obtain it. They may lose it, they may realize their My Definition of an Act… Aug 27, 2008 Writing Notes …is an action. Complete from beginning to end. What’s yours Don’t Make it Difficult Aug 23, 2008 Writing Notes I wanted to do a few posts on what I have figured out about structure. I wanted to draw my pretty line drawing that I use all the time to show One of those days… Aug 13, 2008 Writing Notes When you are feeling down on the writing, think about “Gearheads don’t get it” from 37signals: “Figure out what you have to say that’s interesting Old Projects Aug 12, 2008 Writing Notes What do you do with the the writing that never made it to the end? How long do you hold onto it? If you lost it, if it disappeared, or if you threw Flights of the Imagination Aug 12, 2008 Writing Notes Dead stories are like concept products. Writing dead stories is an act of pretending and without the real constraint of having to publicly release Results Aug 7, 2008 Writing Notes From Seth Godin’s blog today: “I reserve “architect” to describe the intentional arrangement of design elements to get a certain result.” That’s Bayles and Orland on Quality versus Quantity Aug 6, 2008 Personal “The works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning Architectural Change Aug 5, 2008 Writing Notes I was watching How Buildings Learn, a BBC documentary based on Steward Brand’s book of the same name, when they talked about the relationship Let it go Aug 5, 2008 Personal Let go of superstitious thinking. Our passions define our self and our identity. We allow our obsessions to control us, even when it causes us Sounds like a writer’s problem Aug 4, 2008 Writing Notes “Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what they fear most…. But I am talking too much. It’s because I chatter that I do nothing. Or perhaps it Scammy Jul 30, 2008 Writing Notes A word I apply to most books about writing. (Originally posted on 8secondsofawesome.com.) Action Jul 30, 2008 Writing Notes A character has an intention and a goal and she pursues it through action. She makes a choice to pursue the action. She meets resistance, obstacles, One-Eighty Jul 29, 2008 Writing Notes Someone commented the other day how I have taken a 180 degree reversal on structure but there is more to it than that. I have changed how I do Why Aren’t you Doing the Work Jul 28, 2008 Writing Notes Are you waiting for permission? You have my permission. Do you fear the task? Push through — it’s a marathon. Or how about this one from The More Next page