In my latest video, I’ll show you the best writing apps to boost your word count and raise your blood pressure.
Blarg!
Bill's blog. Writing, guitars, gratuitous Simpsons references, you'll find it all here. Almost certainly a waste of time for both you and the author. On the internet, that's actually a plus.
New video: The Hack's Guide to Applying to MFA Programs
My latest Hacks for Hacks video is out now: The Hack's Guide to Applying to MFA Programs.
An MFA in creative writing can lend an air of respectability to even the hackiest of hack writers. Speaking of lending, get ready to write checks to Nelnet for the rest of your miserable life.
New video: Top 8 Excuses When You’re About to Blow a Deadline
I’ve got a new video out in my Hacks for Hacks series. This is a subject that should be relatable to everyone: Top 8 Excuses When You’re About to Blow a Deadline.
New column: October is NaNoCheatMo
My newest column dropped today at Writer Unboxed: October is NaNoCheatMo. Here’s a sample:
Image courtesy of NaNoWriMo
National Novel Writing Month (sometimes referred to as “NaNoWriMo” or “November”) is just around the corner, which means it’s time to fool yourself into thinking you can write your literary opus in a mere thirty days. That’s a lot of work, especially considering you’ve got a lot of eating to do on Thanksgiving and a lot of mall doors to bust down on Black Friday. I know you can do it, though. In fact, you can finish your novel in November easily by using one weird trick. You see, NaNoWriMo is much easier if you take a shortcut, by which I mean, take a longcut: start your novel in early October and pretend you wrote it in only thirty days.
That’s right, I want you to cheat.
New video: How to Defeat Impostor Syndrome
The first video in my Hacks for Hacks video series is live: How to Defeat Impostor Syndrome!
The next video drops next week, so subscribe to make sure you don’t miss it.
New Hacks for Hacks video series
Hello. I'm trying a new thing. I made some videos based on my Hacks for Hacks column at Writer Unboxed.
I think they're fun and I think you will, too. Here's a look at what it's about.
Watch me Read "A Crawlspace Full of Prizes" on Story Hour
I recently appeared on Story Hour, along with author April Grant. I had a lot of fun reading “A Crawlspace Full of Prizes,” and through a bizarre coincidence, both authors’ stories were about magic basements. Check it out, you will enjoy it.
FYI, my story begins at 22:25 in the video, but you’ll be doing yourself a disservice if you skip April’s, it is a delight.
New column: The Seven Habits of Successful Writers
photo by Mike Downey
My new Hacks for Hacks column is up at Writer Unboxed: The 7 Habits of Successful Writers
1. Write every day
2. Go to a prestigious creative writing program
3. Get rich and famous before you start writing
4. Cultivate a love of reading when you’re still a child
5. Have at least one parent who is a successful author
6. Have your mom read to you when you’re still in the womb
7. Be Stephen King
These are pretty foolproof, so read on for how to develop these crucial habits.
Read my new column: The Hack’s Guide to Setting Deadlines for Yourself
photo by Dafne Cholet
Writers need deadlines the way Dr. Frankenstein needs electricity—it takes a dangerous outside force to inject life into our abominable creations. Check out my column at Writer Unboxed, The Hack’s Guide to Setting Deadlines for Yourself.
If your writing career is withering under the tyranny of a peaceful and balanced lifestyle, this column will help you inject some much-needed stress and anxiety into your writing process.
Set an arbitrary deadline. Just give yourself a due date. In his seminal book on writing, On Writing, Stephen King says you should try to finish a book draft in like three months or so (I’m too lazy to look it up, and too temperamental to be corrected, so if I’m wrong, please keep it to yourself). Mark your calendar for three months from today and make that your goal. Will it work? It might, but based on the fact that you’re reading this column right now, I’m betting it won’t. It sounds plausible enough, though, and I’m on a deadline to write this column, so I’m leaving it in.
New column at Writer Unboxed: The Hack’s Guide to Rewarding Yourself
photo by Zechariah Judy
If you’re a writer working hard on your book, don’t forget to treat yourself once in a while. I’ll show you how in my new Writer Unboxed column, The Hack’s Guide to Rewarding Yourself.
Obviously, the ultimate reward for any author is to have your book turned into a prestige TV series. When does that day come, though? Writing is, at its core, an exercise in delayed gratification, with wide variation in the length of that delay and the quality of that gratification. Even the fastest writer can spend months pouring their heart and soul into a book that can be consumed in a matter of hours—a ratio that is, at best, a meditation on the nature of art, and at worst, an outright scam. For many writers, “After my book is finished…” has the same energy as “When the pandemic is over…” and “When Daddy gets back from the store with cigarettes…” When writing success always seems just over the horizon in perpetuity, it’s up to you to reward yourself for finishing a draft, a chapter, a single page if that’s what you need to keep going.
The Hack’s Guide to Rewarding Yourself via Writer Unboxed