Work is getting to me. I feel unappreciated and irrelevant. My friends don’t seem to particularly care about any of my thoughts, my...

Gardening can teach us what is within and beyond our control. You can water during a drought, dig trenches in a deluge, and cut away the...

I have said in the past that I don’t believe in "New Year’s resolutions." They are forced and timed in a way that sets most of us up for failure. But in the garden, there is a different, though similar, task that happens every year: Taking stock. You see, a garden doesn’t lie to you. It can’t. It doesn’t care about your feelings; it doesn’t care whether you think something worked or not. When a plant dies, the garden is telling you something didn’t work. When a plant thrives,

Life life like a garden you get to tend once

I recently reread this book, the first in the Coldfire series, and a long-standing favorite of mine. Now clocking in at about 35 years...

After the last post, a question was posed: why should we consider doing it this way? Today, I want to spend some time answering that...

I want to introduce a new series on this site, which will be about your metaphorical garden and my literal one. Sort of. I don’t mean I...

You finished a draft of your novel. Congratulations are in order! Let’s talk about the next steps. Whenever you choose to edit, remember...

Children are stressed. In interviews with adolescents and children at remarkably young ages, they are self-reporting depression, sadness,...

When should you edit your work? Much like how you should write your book, there is no right answer. There are many options, and you need...

I am recently back from a work trip and short vacation in the same area, and I am reminded once again of the statement I decided on...

You have exercised every day for a month, but you barely lose one pound. You lift every day for three months and can barely add a pound...

It has taken me two years of concerted effort, reading several books, listening to many podcasts, and writing multiple novels and short...

This morning an ad on YouTube mentioned that I could have an AI assistant to help tie together all my known financial inputs and outputs...

How much negativity in your feedback can you stand? 10%... 20%? 90%? Every writer needs negative criticism. We need to be told no. We...

I am a new reader of Brian Staveley’s work. I regret to admit I had not seen his previous trilogy when it hit the shelves and haven’t...

Who you link to for a Point of View (POV) is extremely important in storytelling. I am going to give an example of a very short piece...

We have talked before about good and bad dialogue. In summary, bad dialogue is dialogue that is long-winded, generic, tells us nothing,...

Do you want to reduce stress levels, lower heart rate, and ease tension in the muscles? Usually, this kind of claim is a start toa bad...

Crafting dialogue that sounds like real speech while still being purposeful and engaging can be difficult. Real conversations often...