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Lessons Learned from Reading Bad Books
I have read some bad books over the last few years, and I’m pretty glad I did, because I definitely got a lot out of them. Not things the writers intended, but enough to make them valuable experiences.
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On writing as play, 2024 wins, and 2025 goals
It’s that time! The one time a year I reliably send a newsletter or write a blog post, to update with what all I did last year. Here’s an archive of word counts from the last, gosh, decade. I’ve focused less on word count stats in recent years, though — I know I consistently draft…
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2023 Word Count, and 2024 Goals
Quick check in: with the demise of Tinyletter, I’ve moved my newsletter over to Buttondown. If you subscribed previously you don’t have to subscribe again, and I’m going to continue cross-posting here, too, since I think this version looks nicer than the Buttondown archives. (And if you haven’t subscribed yet: please do!) It’s February, which…
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On plotting, and not plotting, and story vibes vs story structure…
Hi friends, Recently, my best friend and writing buddy said one of the most devastatingly true things about me I’ve ever been faced with. In a discussion about starting a new project where I’m trying to be less structured in my prep (we’ll get to that), she looked me dead in the eye and said,…
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On reading, as a writer
Hello, friends! So much for my goal of sending a newsletter every month. I kept trying to think of March themes and then didn’t. You came very close to seeing a timeline of my pandemic hair situation but it felt too silly. (Both the newsletter and my pandemic hair, thankfully long since shaved off.) First…
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Getting Back on Track… Slowly: 2022 in Numbers
Hi. So. I didn’t do my word count blog entry for 2021, because it was a long crappy year and I didn’t feel like it in January and then I forgot. If you’re curious, I spent all of 2021 on a slow, painful, major revision to the project that I’ve been working on for a…
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On finishing an experiment
Hi friends, I usually try to send this newsletter on the first of the month, when I send it at all. (So… rarely.) But did you know that if you spend a month in a 50,000 word writing marathon, you’re very tired and need a few days to process?! So I’m not letting perfect be…
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On starting something new–
Hi friends, It’s October. It’s October?!?! It’s October. Gosh. I’m currently feeling optimistic about a lot of things. Not, like, the fate of the world or anything; that’s still too big and overwhelming to think about. But on a personal level. I started my new job about a year ago now, and while it does…
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Writing Through the Pandemic: 2020 Wordcount
Hello! First a reminder that I only update this blog once a year for this very word count post. If you want to know what I’m up to more often, try my newsletter (though even that isn’t too frequent…). After everything the horrors of last year took from us, perhaps the pettiest complaint is that…
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Rereading my own work –
Hi friends, It started with career day. My sister/roommate is a high school teacher and once a year I get invited to take part in her school’s career day, and spend a morning talking to kids about my career. I go back and forth between talking about my day job in tech and my creative…
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