You never know when you’re going to meet someone who can help your career. That is true of any job and is especially true of writing. That particular point was driven home last weekend when I was volunteering for the Calgary Young Writers’ Conference. This was the fifth consecutive year that I’ve volunteered to help out as a host. I remember thinking the first year how cool it would be if I had the chance to present at the conference. It was so long ago and I remember how big a stretch it seemed, how far from my reality. Today, it seems so much closer, the dreams so much more real. Each year that I have gone I have met new authors […]

Anyone who has ever tried to lose a little weight can tell you that change is not an easy thing.  Successful weight-loss usually means a change in eating habits, an increase in activity and a lot of motivational help from others.  In other words, a change in lifestyle. Writing isn’t a whole lot different.  Instead of changing your eating habits, you are changing other habits to make time for putting pen to paper.  The increase in activity is analogous to sitting down and actually creating the stories.  Motivational help… well that is definitely a key requirement too and part of the reason StartingWriteNow exists. Just like the calorie-filled goodies that seem to be all around us, there are ample distractions […]

I’m at a bit of a cross-roads and I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about it.  You see, I’m looking very seriously at getting a Mac.  Nothing wrong with that, right? There’s only one problem.  I’ve been using Microsoft products almost since the beginning of personal computers (just ask Sean, I really am that old).  Not only have I been using them but I’ve also been actively supporting them both personally and career-wise.  And until recently, I could honestly look you in the eye and say I had never strayed or been unfaithful to Microsoft… well except for that one time in Vegas when I was drunk, but what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. I use Microsoft […]

I thought I would do something a bit different for my first Friday post.  To that end, I’m not going to talk about the changes coming to the website.  There will be plenty of time for that in the days and weeks to come. I don’t think I’ve made any secret of the fact that editing is not my favorite thing in the world.  In fact, at one time, nailing my fingers with a hammer actually ranked higher in my list of things to do than editing.  That’s what makes my next revelation so amazing:  I don’t hate editing as much as I thought I did. OK, maybe amazing is a bit of a stretch, but sometimes you just have to […]