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I've been sitting on this idea for a while (too busy to 'toon--very sad) but here's the second installment of Writer Nightmares. More to come! This one is loosely based on reality--my own and others'. I know many a writer who has lost a critical... Read the rest of this post

Hey! It's a new toon, in a new series of toons I should be able to exploit for quite some time. What writer doesn't have nightmares (usually waking nightmares) about all manner of career mishaps and embarrassments? Well, probably not if you're Neil... Read the rest of this post

To be honest, one or both of us is always ALWAYS in Revisionland in some form or another. And when we're lost in Revisionland I tend to go back and re-run old installments of Toon Thursday to cheer myself up. So, I have one of those for you, but lo... Read the rest of this post

In a recent article in The Atlantic entitled "Is Grit Overrated?", Jerry Useem examines recent research by University of Pennsylvania psychology professor Angela Duckworth on the topic of GRIT: a sort of hard-to-define special something that is one... Read the rest of this post

That's right--last time's rerun was just a teaser for the real thing: a lovely new cartoon featuring everyone's favorite bummer topic, DYSTOPIAS. More precisely, the shiny happy people who write them. Any resemblance to existing writers, living or... Read the rest of this post

I have nothing noteworthy for you today: not a thing. For one thing, it's a holiday. Gimme a break. Also, it is really HOT. Thirdly, I'm trapped in the mental quagmire that is novel revision, and it is a doozy. But I did want to pop my head up and... Read the rest of this post

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl: I must have read and reread it at least half a dozen times growing up. Maybe, dare I say, a dozen. Roald Dahl's books were perennial favorites for me, but especially this one and Charlie and the Chocolate... Read the rest of this post

I'm trying to come up with a new installment of Psychobabble for Writers, but I've been too busy to get inspired (or, for that matter, to even think about a new and original post of any kind...). Therefore, here is a Toon Thursday from the past for... Read the rest of this post

I suggest clicking to embiggen this one, since I had to reduce the size to fit the width of our center column.  This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those of the writer, unless otherwise indicated. All book reviews are... Read the rest of this post

Photo taken by me, this past fall, at West Head, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, near Sydney, Australia. Quotation is from the always inspirational book Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, a must-have for your bookshelf of writing... Read the rest of this post

During this early part of the year, there have been a lot of conversations about writing goals, and what we all plan to accomplish by hook or by crook (or, in some cases, by copious amounts of caffeine and/or wine). Often, though, despite our best... Read the rest of this post

Since I still don't have a book review ready to post, I hereby shamelessly fill this space with writer porn, aka pictures of cool typewriters from the Museum of American History in Washington, DC, which I saw a few months ago. Here you go:A... Read the rest of this post

I don't have a new review for you yet, but I do have this photo that I took while in Australia, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. Enjoy your wry yet biting art-world commentary:For more great stuff by the Guerrilla Girls, check out... Read the rest of this post

Cross-posted to Aquafortis. I'm finally back to having time to devote to my WIP--or I should perhaps say, I have seized time back from the ravening bitch-goddess that is unexpected work. Not to mention the slightly less ravening bitch-goddess that... Read the rest of this post

Since I recently received my very first real-life, official, honest-to-god blurb request, I've been thinking a lot about it. Working on it has been a bit of a revelation--it's a challenge, and a responsibility, and an honor, and lord help me it is... Read the rest of this post

Sadly, the passage of time has not made this one any less accurate... Happy Thursday! This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those of the writer, unless otherwise indicated. All book reviews are UNSOLICITED, and no money has exchanged... Read the rest of this post

I'm curious about how others deal with the problem of having trouble getting started. I don't necessarily mean getting started with a NEW writing project, but getting going in general, when your mind feels sluggish, or the project is frustrating... Read the rest of this post

I actually do have a new cartoon in the works, but it's currently...a sketch on a miscellaneous scrap of paper. I posted this toon in honor of the fact that my novel-in-progress is still slogging through the quagmire of many pieces of paper, both... Read the rest of this post

Featuring everyone's favorite place to write, "Le Cafe Snooty." I'm pretty sure it's reappeared in several of my cartoons by now. Any resemblance to actual places is definitely coincidental. This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those... Read the rest of this post

Since I'm leaving today for a weekend writing retreat (during which I sincerely and fervently hope to make serious progress on my WIP), I thought it would be appropriate to repost my cartoon featuring a writing retreat pie chart. Enjoy! This work is... Read the rest of this post

Have you registered yet? No? Then go! I just did, and I couldn't be more excited about how plans are shaping up--we have a fantastic team of organizers who are setting up the program of events, including a couple of meet-and-greet opportunities for... Read the rest of this post

So, Tech Boy and I recently spent some four days in Portland, the one in Oregon, anyway, and for those of you who have been there or heard it called The Berkeley of the North, it isn't; Berkeley is still offbeat and a little dirty, and Portland is... Read the rest of this post

No, no, no--I said STRUCTURE, not A structure.Today, in our writing group, we talked about the idea of STRUCTURE in writing YA novels (or any fiction, for that matter). I've obsessing over it a bit because I'm working on a new project, so it was... Read the rest of this post

Man, remember blog hops?When was the last time you were invited to do something like that???Okay, not gonna lie: the act of blogging in itself is fairly old school, since the IN THING is to Tumbl(r) or Tweet or Facebook it. But, we're still here,... Read the rest of this post