Why Teaching Research Writing Is More Important Than Ever

As Harlan Ellison said: “You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. Everything else is just hot air and farts in the wind.”

5 Ways to Stay a Writer

This quote by one of my favorite writers (Harlan Ellison) is irrevocably true.  How many students have I taught to write over the years who most likely do not use that skill now that they are adults?  I’m sure the number is more than I’m willing to admit. I consider myself a pretty prolific writer.  I’ve

3 Kick In the Pants Tips for Tired Workaday Writers

This has been a rough week. Of course, as a high school English teacher who teaches two Advanced Placement courses and also manages the after school alternative education program…and also the supplemental online schooling program…most weeks are tough. They are ten times that when I want to write something and get home and there are

Come Apart: My New Novel

I’ve been waiting for the right opportunity to share about my newest novel Come Apart, slated for a February release, and I suppose now is as good a time as any. I have always loved books, films and television programs that keep the reader or viewer guessing, surprising them with strange twists and turns, throws buckets

Question for the Writer: Who Are You?

We will begin today’s post with a simple quote from the late great Kurt Cobain:   Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are. I have been writing something whether it be short stories, poems or now mostly novels for the better part of my life.  I can remember as

Ugly Errors: 5 Reasons Why Writers Must Learn to Revise

As Taylor Mali illustrates so eloquently in the above video, writers should stop relying on spell check to edit their writing for them and start learning how to revise. One of the best books on the market for self-editing is by Renni Browne and Dave King: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into