Snake Spit

I left you with nothing but blisters on your split tongue As you spat letters soaked in my name upon the dirt. You laced your cutting saliva with acid, And draped it in bubbly strands on the bending blades of grass — Hoping my ankles might graze your dripping spite — When I left you […]

Snake Spit

The Dark

I am the dark.

I wish I could be honest with myself.

But I am the dark.

I wish I could be free of myself.

But I am the dark.

I wish I could survive myself.

But I am the dark.

I wish I could see the Sun for myself.

But I am the dark.

I am the dark.

The dark.

The dark.

The dark.

I am the dark.

Writing Isn’t Easy

Writing well is not easy. Some people can push out a book a month. One writer pushed out a book a week for a year. I can barely write a chapter a day. Even at my best pace, I can only write about 30-40k a month. My first novel, Blood Born, is 80k words. I started writing it when I was 17. I’m 34 and only just finished it.

My point? Cut yourself a break. We all want to be professional writers. We would love to be able to support ourselves by doing what we love. To do so requires a change in mindset. We have to look at our passion as a business, and that is hard. It takes time to come to terms with such a shift in mindset. If we want to survive by writing, then we have to forge our writing into a tool for survival.

Advice – Maps in my Ebook

I read a lot of fantasy. A LOT. If you clicked on this entry, you probably read a lot of fantasy too. Most of the fantasy books I’ve read include at least one map. Now, I’m writing a fantasy novel. Should I include a map of the world I’ve built? I’ve sketched out the map and plan to send it to a professional. Have any other authors had trouble formatting their map within the book?

Am I a writer?

I know to be a writer you don’t need to write every day. You don’t need to publish. You don’t even have to share anything you write with another person. And yet I feel hesitant to label myself “a writer.” It sounds so big and important, so much more than an unpublished piece from the heart and a few tweet-length stories or poems. But I’m feeling it out, trying to figure it out… Am I a writer?

Am I a writer?