What the heck is PKM? -or- Organization for Authors

Ever since I re-joined Medium (after a hiatus of about a year), I have been inundated with articles on productivity apps and apps for “PKM”. For the longest time, I had no idea what this PKM thing was, but these articles were about Trello, Notion, Obsidian,...

Creating Characters to Love

People! They can be so difficult ( says the devoted introvert). They are extremely complicated beings with their likes and dislikes, their personal history, and so many different factors that go into how they see the world, how they speak, even how they dress. And...

Story Structure Revisited

There are so many different types of story structure. and they have anywhere from three parts to six, twenty-four, or more. I happen to be fascinated by story structure. It’s a fundamental piece of writing fiction—and can be used for nonfiction as well. Story...

Harnessing Your Creativity

Twice a day your creativity goes into over­drive, and you may not be taking advantage of it. The moment you wake up in the morning and just before you go to sleep at night your brain is sleepy and pliable and, most importantly, creative. This state is a scientifically...

How do you prepare to write?

Writers are usually split up into two groups: Plotters and Pantsers. Plotters plot their work before they begin to write—and sometimes in such excruciating detail they’ve basically already written the book but in outline form (I once knew an author who wrote a 40 page...

How fast can you write to keep to a deadline?

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. ” Douglas Adams We all hate deadlines, right? Well, aside from Douglas Adams, most people hate deadlines. But there are some who absolutely love them. When I began working with a new...