Control the process, not the outcome. Before my first book was published Steven Spielberg optioned it. This was awesome for, like, two days and then the pressure mounted. Will you meet with this screenwriter? Have breakfast with these producers? Everyone wants to know how quickly you can get the manuscript…

And influenced the book I was writing. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. You just have to take the first step. Keep that in mind. Because I’m going to tell a story. A story that began a long time ago and ends today. It ends well. I’ll give…

On watching a story of mine debut at Sundance, and thinking about Neil Gaiman. Week-by-week readers know that last week I was at Sundance, watching a film adaptation of a story I wrote. There was so much I could think about: Which celebrities will I see? And how will I…

A project fell through that I needed financially, so I’m scrambling right now. Every freelance writer reading this knows the feeling: I’m not good enough. Is it always going to be this hard? Hell, many staff writers have similar feelings when a big story collapses. Will I find another one…

It’s also the ONLY goal you should have as a writer. So let’s start by saying something bold: The lesson of Barnes & Noble is the lesson for every writer. The jazz critic and music historian Ted Gioia has a great piece on Barnes & Noble. It’s expanding. In 2023. …

What if I fail? What if I have modest success but never write for dream publications? What if I write for dream publications but never quiet the inner voice that says I’m inadequate? I’ve posed these questions. Maybe you have too. How do you stop them? Well, I’m not sure…

How to write and how to live. This quote comes from Steven Pressfield, the historical novelist who has a new book out: Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be. It’s another way to say what Emerson has before him: “God will not have his work made manifest by…

On Medium and any other platform. Everything I read and consumed in this week fit into one theme: How everything is useful for you, fuel for. So let’s talk about that. In particular let’s talk about how: You Will Use It All. I found this idea in Stephen King’s On Writing, which I read this…

One book has transformed how I think about what I do—and why A friend of mine, for my birthday, got me Warren Bennis’ classic On Becoming a Leader. I thanked him for the book but it sat on Mount Nightstand for five months. …