I've been writing commercially for about nine months now. Just recently, I finished a science fiction LitRPG, the first time that I was ghostwriting fiction. I find all my work exclusively through Upwork, where I see that there are lots of Kindlepreneurs—entrepreneurs who are looking to satisfy niche demands through careful research of the Kindle…
The Train as Temple
It's been nearly two years since I've written anything here. And it took a long subway ride to get me to return. The extremely long hiatus was due in large part to the fact that I was focused on creating fiction. That is, I was directing all my creative energy to writing long tracts of…
Surviving The Workshop: Gauging Reactions
I recently had workshopped a piece that I had intended to be the ending chapter of the first arc in my novel. In it, the protagonist Mark ends up talking to a young fellow just a year or two younger than he is. The character's name is Giovanni, and he is largely a mouthpiece for…
5 Ways To Give Good Feedback In Peer Writing Workshops
I've come across many aspiring writers who are frustrated with the feedback that they receive from fellow writers in workshops. And when people show me what their peers are saying about their work, I am surprised that they are frustrated. I'm astonished that they aren't downright furious. There are a multitude of things to consider…
The Truth About Great Literature
In the most recent issue of Poets & Writers, Steve Almond writes about some interesting issues in his article, "The Problem of Entitlement: A Question of Respect." In it, he attempted an amateur psychoanalysis of his students' skepticism towards the actual greatness of the stories anthologised in Best American Short Stories. To this extent, I…
