Hallelujah! Book Two is off to the Editor

The old line about the joys of boating holds that an owner’s two happiest days are when he buys a boat and when he sells it. An author feels the same way about a book, although you have to up the number of happy days to three: the day the author sits down to...

When are you done Revising?

What a question. It reminds me of other eternal inquiries, such as Why is a mouse when it spins? or, What’s the difference between a duck? At least those questions have answers (although you’ll have to read to the end of this blog post to find out what...

When is a Cliché Forgivable?

One of the ten commandments of creative writing must certainly be Thou Shalt Not Use clichés. The difference with writing commandments, of course, is that there’s always an “except…” Except, perhaps, in the case of the hated cliché, or nearly...