Word for Words Blog for Writers

Old conductors never die, so the saying goes; they just take the midnight train to Georgia. I'd like to take credit for that observation...

On a bleak late afternoon in winter I went into Starbucks and ordered a single shot. I ensconced myself in a tall-backed chair at the window...

How you edit the first chapter of your novel is key. If you began the writing process by crafting a plot treatment, character sketches and a...

Sound easy? Not if you're a nonfiction writer—of any kind. Still, the advice is good, albeit harder than it seems. Use your experience t...

Ever get that nervous feeling in the pit of your stomach when your story seems as if it is taking a direction of its own? That may be just w...

Writing is a great privilege, except when the biggest worry is, well, worry. It's that blank page again, staring you in the face, or it...

It's been about two weeks since my last writing here — the phrase has the air of confession about it, although it's less confession ...

It may sound strange to think of writing more as a craft than a fine art, but for me that's what writing is, the sense of continual appr...