Blog Post
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What does it take to become a great author?
If you’re interested in becoming a writer, you might be wondering what it takes to become an author. The answer to that question is fairly simple. All you need to do to become an author is to write something and publish it. These days, self-publishing options make that very simple. However, if your interest is to become a great author, then it becomes much more complex. In this article, I’ll do my best to convey my opinion on what it takes to become a great author. In order to write compelling novels, two essential ingredients are required. First, you must have a well-developed imagination. Second, you must possess the three…
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Where Is David Maxwell?
I assure you that I am alive and well. I’ve missed you guys. The last few months have been trying to say the least. I don’t even know where to begin. I had to move from my home of 5 years to a remote location in Vietnam. Long story, but I found a place that suits me well. My finances have been haywire due to recent developments, which hasn’t helped. To top it off, my health is rapidly declining. Making matters worse, as if they could be, my laptop stopped working. It took me several months to figure out that my hard drive was not correctly seeded. At least it…
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Request for Support
I need your help. It is not easy asking for help or admitting that you’re in need of help, but you won’t receive it if you don’t ask. So, here I am… asking. If you follow my blog, then you know my posts typically address tools, techniques, tips, and concepts to help others with their creative efforts. This is not a typical post. While I am usually trying to support the creative community, this time I am asking for your support. Tunnels are curious. There are two good things about tunnels. One, they provide a method for you to get through an obstacle. Two, there is always light at the…
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The Wonderous Allure of a Good Short Story
Who doesn’t love a good short story? We started out with them as kids and still enjoy them as adults. In this article, I will discuss the unique appeal of reading short stories over the more lengthy option of novels. Time is the most valuable currency in the world and most of us have little to spare. While it may take you days to finish reading a novel, you can read a short story in a matter of minutes or hours. In my mind, this is the biggest draw, but there is another. Short stories leave a tremendous amount of details to the readers’ imaginations. With short stories, we see…
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How To Stay Motivated
Life often tends to get in the way of the pursuit of our dreams. You may have encountered a roadblock, but that doesn’t mean you should give up on your journey. In this article, I will share some thoughts on how to stay motivated during trying times. Bad things happen and we all face our own challenges. Perhaps you’ve recently lost a loved one, or you have bills that are piling up, or you’ve fallen ill, or any number of a series of unfortunate incidents have taken place. In these dire circumstances, it would be easy to put your writing efforts (or any other dream that you may be pursuing)…
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Staying The Course!
There are times in each of our lives when we feel like our ship is sinking and there is no way out. It is in these dire moments that I want you to remember that your words live forever. In this article, I will try to help you find the motivation to forge ahead when the waters get rough. Bad things happen. They are unavoidable and inevitable. When they happen to us, we have two choices – fold or fight. Folding is the easier of the two and, when things go wrong, we’re tempted to go down that path. Fighting takes courage and sensibility in moments where both attributes seem…
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The First Major Edit
While most authors find writing a manuscript to be an enjoyable process, they find editing to be a painful necessity. In this article, I will share my thoughts on how to effectively deal with the first major edit of a manuscript. Throughout the process of writing, we are constantly editing our work, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by page. I call that the active editing phase. Once we have completed our first draft, we go back through the chapters one by one for fine-tuning and consistency. I call that the initial revisions phase. Next, we send our manuscript off to our editors for their review. Once they have…
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Keeping It Real!
Regardless of how fictitious or far-fetched your story may be, adding in some realistic elements will only make it better. In this article, I will talk about the value of weaving reality into your fiction. Most of the best fiction books that were ever written and a large majority of the great movies of our time include elements of reality, either in relationships, settings, or plausibility. This even applies to outlandish tales like Maze Runner, Hunger Games, or even The Walking Dead. Why? Because we can imagine a world where things have gone wrong. If the story is told well and there is some truth in the fiction, then we…
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Have You Ever Felt Like Throwing In The Towel?
Don’t! Keep fighting! It’s amazing how much impact a few words can have. As an author (or any type of creative artist for that matter) you must have tough skin. Rejection and criticism hurt, but you have to take it with a grain of salt. In this article, I will share my thoughts on how to get through the darkest moments. Has anyone ever told you that you won’t amount to anything? Have you ever been on the receiving end of words like useless, incompetent, or ignorant? Most of us have been at some point in time and it doesn’t feel good. Sometimes, the jab is intentional and other times…
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From Idea to Manuscript
When people find out that I’m an author, I often hear comments about their own writing aspirations. “I’ve got this great idea for a novel,” one would say. “My life story would make a compelling book,” another would comment. Whenever I would ask why they don’t write their stories, their answers were consistently self-deprecating. “I wouldn’t know where to start,” one would defend. “I’m not a writer,” another would attest. “I could never do what you do,” some would say. In this article, I am going to provide a road map for anyone who wants to translate an idea into a manuscript. Writing is not rocket science. We all write…
