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Storyville: What Makes Your Stories Uniquely You?
January 14th, 2022
In one of my classes last night we were discussing a few stories out of The Best Horror of the Year anthology—one was zombies and the other was vampires. And one of the things that made those stories really pop and stand out to me, as well as the class, was the way that the authors worked to make these stories unique, personal, and compelling in the face of SO MANY zombie and vampire stories over the years. How did they do that? They applied their own personal touches to the stories, and made them their own.
Read Column →Exciting YA Releases for the First Half of 2022
January 13th, 2022
Welcome to 2022, fellow bookish nerds! I am so excited to be in this new year, I can’t lie. And part of that excitement stems from the fact that SO STINKING MANY great new books are releasing this year. As someone who positively lives for books—that is the best news. And as someone who especially lives for YA, I thought it’d be fun to collect some YAs I’m stoked for in the first half of the year.
Read Column →Debunking The Bad Science of Books and Reading
January 12th, 2022
The joke among readers and writers is that we all got into the arts because we suck at math and science. Sometimes, I’m not so sure it’s a joke. I keep seeing these TERRIBLY unscientific studies about books and reading passed between readers and writers. Studies like these.
Read Column →2022: Write A New Beginning for This Story
January 11th, 2022
There are New Year's resolutions like these: Exercise more Eat healthier Meditate first thing in the morning Use a daily planner ...which feel more like socially acceptable lifestyle habits that everyone pretends they're really good at maintaining. The thing is, nobody really follows through, because if they did, they wouldn't need to resolve the same thing every year.
Read Column →Stephen King’s 10 Most Underrated Novels From a Guy Who's Read Them All
January 10th, 2022
A few years ago, Richard Chizmar of Cemetery Dance started his Stephen King Revisited effort to reread all of the horror meister's works in the order they were published. He invited others to join him, so I did. A few weeks before the end of 2021, I finished. As of now, I have essentially read everything Stephen King has ever published.
Read Column →Revolutionize Your Writer’s Resolutions With Habits That’ll Manifest Your Best Life
January 7th, 2022
Photo by Markus Winkler via Pexels We’ve all said it, “This is the year I finish my novel.” Or worse, “This is the year I write half a million words!” Writers tend to make grand declarations at the start of the New Year, never taking into consideration how to put such ideas into action.
Read Column →Accountability Matters: Revisiting My 2021 Resolutions
January 6th, 2022
Original Photo by Godisable Jacob My intro to the piece I wrote more than year ago about resolutions still applies (sadly), so here you go:
Read Column →Why John Urbancik is the Greatest Short Story Writer of All Time
January 5th, 2022
I should point out that John Urbancik has some great novels too, along with stellar nonfiction work. Praising his short stories isn’t meant to imply that his other stuff isn’t great as well.
Read Column →Will Libraries Ever Recover From COVID?
January 4th, 2022
You've probably put some thought into whether your uncle is going to come out of COVID unscathed. Maybe he’s vaccinated. Maybe he's unvaxxed and hoping for the best while he drinks his 34th Dew of the day. Maybe his vaccination status is unknown, but he's one of those cockroach men who'd survive getting hit by a flaming bus constructed entirely of spoiled chicken, so, regardless of COVID, he'll keep Ski-Doo and Swisher Sweets in business for a few more years at least.
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