Writer Unboxed Posts

Sentiment as a Gateway to Character — Oct. 2023

The Bread Machine Editing Trick — July 2023

Desperately Seeking a Writing God — April 2023

Not Writing? Have You Ego-Trapped Yourself — Jan. 2023

Journaling and the Writer (Episode: Man Versus Table Saw) — Oct. 2022

I Hear Sizzling. Where’s the Steak? — July 2022

And the Oscar for Best Reality Show Script Goes to Will Smith  April 2022

How My Pup Taught Me a Few Things About Writing — Jan. 2022

Wake-up Call — Oct. 2021

What an Unnatural Book Marketer Learned While Marie-Kondoing Her House — July 2021

A Display Hack for Your Story’s Outline — April 2021

Writing Self-care for When the World is Afire — Jan. 2021

You can’t just threaten us with some singsongy thing” — Oct. 2020

A Plotstorming Technique — July 2020

Turning Points (or How Not to Kill Your Partner During Covid-19) — April 2020

SQUISH! What Cows and Writing Competence Have in Common — Jan. 2020

Avoid a Writing Cat-astrophe — Oct. 2019

The Life-Changing Magic of Zeroing Non-Writing Commitments — July 2019

Wired for Display — Apr. 2019

Take Five: Jan O’Hara and Desperate Times, Desperate Pleasures — Feb. 2019

How to Concoct Your Own Antidote to Pre-writing Anxiety  — Jan. 2019

Guide to Hacking the Optimal Writing Environment — Jul. 2018

Marketing Copy: The First- Versus Third-Person Debate — Apr. 2018

Take Five: Jan O’Hara and Cold and Hottie — Feb. 2018

“I Yearn” Versus “She Yearned”: Wrestling with Tense and Point of View — Jan. 2018

Lessons Learned from Ruby Dixon: How to Write Sex Scenes that Readers Can’t and Won’t Skip — Oct. 2017

Deprogramming Caution — Apr. 2017

Stuck on a Writing Goal? Use the Past to See the Way Forward — Jan. 2017

Exploit Your Vulnerabilities to Finally Complete Your Book — Nov. 2016

Take Five: Jan O’Hara and Opposite of Frozen — Oct. 2016

The Search for the Ultimate Writing Guru — Apr. 2016

When Your Writing Mountain is My Writing Molehill (and Vice Versa) — Mar. 2016

The Prime Minister, Writing, and an Unethical Psychology Experiment  — Jan. 2016

Warning: This Post Contains Sap and We’re Not Talking the Christmas Tree Variety — Dec. 2015

How to Write Through Trout Syndrome and Electric Shocks — Nov. 2015

When Dark Emotions Threaten Your Writing — Oct. 2015

Politics: Infuriating, Inescapable, and a Writer’s Best Friend? — Sept. 2015

Plane Crashes and Writing: Six Sources of Common Ground — Aug. 2015

Bring Out Your Story Scalpels — July 2015

A Call to Pens–Writer as Social Activist — June 2015

Lean Writer, Fat Word Count? Engineering Your Environment for Default Success — May 2015

Confessions of a Serial Non-finisher — Apr. 2015

Navy Commander Rick Campbell Makes Waves by Penning Military Thrillers — Feb. 2015

Should You Set Limits with Your Readers? — Jan. 2015

Minimalism When Writing Fiction — Dec. 2014

Lessons from the UnCon: I Surrender. I’m Finally Ready to Be Naked — Nov. 2014

Deconstructing Micro-Tension — Oct. 2014

Wanted: Grim Reaper as Writing Coach —  Sept. 2014

C-c-considering Cadence: Understanding One Quality of Voice — Aug. 2014

Because Size Matters: McKee’s Four Tips on Writing a Big Story — Jun. 2014

All Hail Dilemmas: Why Your Characters Need to Make Tough Choices — May 2014

Cultivate the Gap and Watch Your Readers’ Eyebrows Bounce — Apr. 2014

There Are No Mwuahaha Villains in the Artistic Life — Mar. 2014

Songs on Surviving the Midlist: from Opera Singer, Circus Performer & Novelist, Gretchen McNeil — Feb. 2014

To the Disconsolate Writer Who Hates Her Pace. — Jan. 2014

What’s a Pantster to Do When They’re Stuck? Go Tell It TO the Mountain. — Dec. 2013

4 Science-Based Resources to Build a Drama-Free Writing Routine — Nov. 2013

Never Go Naked to Scrabble: Authorial Words Containing “BIC”—Sept. 2013

This Mystical Thing Called Branding—Aug. 2013

The Cadaver Wore Text (aka the Case for Plot Dissection)—Jun. 2013

Linguistic Quirks: What Wordbirthing & Name-Nicking Can Do for Fiction—May 2013

4 Horseman of the Relationship Apocalypse: Want Them for Members of Your Writing Community?—April 2013

Flying Fingers or Tapping Toes: Art is Art is Art — Feb. 2013

Solving a First-World Blogging Problem (Stop Feeling Like An Author Wishbone III)—Jan. 2013

Tormented by Toothless Writing Goals? Try These Tools (Dec. 2012)

Stop Feeling Like an Author Wishbone: First Do No Harm (Nov. 2012)

Stop Feeling Like an Author-Wishbone at a Table of Industry Experts (Oct. 2012)

Never Go Naked to Scrabble: Authorial Words Containing “WIP” (Sept. 2012)

This Product Prevents Literary Wedgies. Good for Multiple Uses. (Writer’s Emergency Hope Kit, Aug. 2012)

Diagnosis: Storyteller (Jul. 2012)

CORBS: 5 Letters That Can Keep the Drama on the Page and Out of Your Critique Group (Jun. 18, 2012)

31 Authors, 1 Model of a Writers’ Cooperative: Author Tawny Stokes on the Bandit Creek Series (May 21, 2012)

An Open Letter to the Writer Who Just Learned of a Parent’s Illness (Apr. 16, 2012)

Justine Musk on Badassery, Identity, and Writing (Mar. 19, 2012)

How to Restore a Character’s Voice When They Develop Laryngitis (Feb. 20, 2012)

Promopalooza: Tie-Ins, Swag, and Merchandising Opps for the Streetwise Writer (Jan. 2012)

I Prefer My Rubber to Meet the Road (Dec. 2011)

14 Subtle Signs Your OBGYN Might Not Make a Good Critique Partner (Nov. 21, 2011)

INTERVIEW: Keith Cronin — ME AGAIN (Oct. 2011 on Writer Unboxed) Parts I and II

But What about the Quiet Ones? (Sept. 2011)

INTERVIEW: Erin Morgenstern — Parts I (Sept. 2, 2011) and II (Sept. 9, 2011)

High on the Hill Strode the Whining Writer (Aug. 2011)

Home via Procrastination Central (Jul. 2011)

Should the Grass Be Greened? (Jun. 20, 2011)

Giving Good Interview — Role of the Ideal Questioner (Jun. 12, 2011)

Giving Good Interview — Suggestions on How to Be a Dream Interview Subject (Jun. 11, 2011)

INTERVIEW: Nathan Bransford (June 2011) — Parts I (Jun. 3) and II (Jun. 10, 2011)

100,000 Reasons Why You Probably Can’t Banish Envy (and May Not Want to, if You Write) – May 16,2011

7 Query Lessons Learned While Warming School Bleachers with My Butt (Apr. 21, 2011)

Manifesto for a Reforming Statistics Junkie (Mar. 21, 2011)

From Bodkins to Backstabbing: Elizabeth Loupas on Spiking Your Novel with Conflict (Feb. 21, 2011)

Gadzooks! Time for a Game of Crit Eeks! (Jan. 17, 2011)

INTERVIEW: Kim Michele Richardson — Part I (Jan. 7, 2011) and Part II (Jan. 14, 2011)

Q&A: Eleven Ways to Become a Sucker for the Unfamiliar (Dec. 20, 2010)

Take 5 with Cindy Pon and Shveta Thakrar — Writing Across Cultural Lines with Verve and Sensitivity (Nov. 15, 2010)

INTERVIEW: Lisa Brackmann — Part II (Nov. 12, 2010)

INTERVIEW: Lisa Brackmann — Part I (Nov. 5, 2010)

Can We Talk Literary Award Ceremonies?— Oct. 18, 2010

I Avoided Career Self-Sabotage and You Can Too! — Sept. 20, 2010

Beyond the Palm Fronds: Writer Unboxed in Orlando — Aug. 16, 2010

INTERVIEW: MacAllister Stone of Absolute Write – Part II — Aug. 13, 2010

INTERVIEW: MacAllister Stone of Absolute Write – Part I — Aug. 6, 2010

Writing is a People-Growing Machine — Jul. 19, 2010

Peeps Aren’t Only for Easter — Jun. 21, 2010

On the Drawbridge to “Yes” — May 17, 2010

Sink Metaphors, Toast Fairies, and Writing — Apr. 12, 2010