Five lessons of my first solo Christmas tree — It’s my first Christmas tree in five years. A growing puppy discouraged a tree from 2018–2020. Last year, my father was dying, and I was just beginning to peel back the layers of my husband’s iniquity. Yuletide cheer was in short supply. So no tree in 2021 either. This year…

Five reasons to throw in the towel on your 401(k) — No one has saved enough money to retire. Seriously, have you? Here are five reasons to consider your 401(k) a lost cause. 1. The 401(k) account was never designed to be an actual retirement plan The 401(k) was invented by mistake in 1978. Most people are too young to remember a time before 401(k)s — when there was something called an employer pension.

Why it’s time to ditch this old adage and tell away — If you’ve read writing-advice blogs or attended a writing webinar, you’ve heard the command, “show, don’t tell.” Many novice writers drive themselves crazy trying to adhere to it — to their detriment. Here’s your permission to chuck it out the window. ‘Show don’t tell’ defined (Feel free to skip ahead if you’re weary of…

Three rules for generating options to fix problems with your plot — The words are flowing. You feel the wind in your hair. Writing is a joy! Easy as riding a bicycle. Then, suddenly, your front wheel goes in a pothole, and you fly over the handlebars. This sensation is familiar to novel writers when we stumble upon a major flaw in…

Seriously, aren’t you? — Ask anyone how they’re doing, and they’ll tell you how tired they are. Young people. Old people. Male. Female. Office worker. Amazon worker. Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief. Why is everyone so exhausted, and what can we do about it? It’s not just the pandemic As one writer put it, “Covid was an…

Francis B. Murray (1928–2022) led a gilded-age life full of surprises and life lessons — I recently lost my father, who died at the age of 93. The following is an excerpt from his eulogy. First a disclaimer Bewilderment. That’s the expression on people’s faces when I tell family stories without first providing the following context: My great-grandfather, Thomas E. Murray, Sr., was an early industrialist and co-founded…

A pandemic tale — Our New York office entered suspended animation mid-March of 2020. My husband and I, partners in business and life, drained the coffee maker and emptied the fridge — except for the tublets of coffee creamer with an expire date of December. We washed the dishes left by a staff member…

Use these 7 plotting gems and get ‘er done — Many writers peter out before finishing their novels. Don’t let your manuscript end up in a drawer. Mastering plot structure spurs you to finish by giving you definite milestones to aim at. Becoming adept in plotting has the added benefit of improving the quality of your work. Here are my…

4 steps to launching a group that will supercharge your novel-writing — Plotting groups may be the best-kept secret of successful novel writing. “Find a plotting group” was Tip #3 in my post on completing a manuscript faster. Now, “How do you start a plotting group?” is the number-one question in the comments. There’s very little info out there. …