Are you plagued with writers block? Or do you just need a gentle nudge to get in the writing mood? Find a musical muse and let the power of music unleash your creativity. I normally don’t listen to music while I’m writing. When I do I choose classical, jazz, or easy listening. In “Music to Write By,” author Indra Sena suggests that non-listeners try “anchoring” themselves to a starting song (her term for musical muse) to get in the writing mood: You can choose any song that m

If Your Character is a Monkey, He’s Going to Act Like a Monkey Recently, I attended the annual cotillion dinner for eighth graders. Every year I have a standing gig teaching a three-hour tutorial dinner on how not to eat like a monkey. Here in southern USA, cotillion in a social rite of passage. It’s an opportunity for young ladies and gentlemen in middle school to learn social graces – how to ask a lady for a dance, how to escort her onto the floor, and how to shuffle aroun

The adage, write what you know, is true up to a point. You don’t have to be a serial killer to write about one. Unless of course you know a real serial killer, then you can just ask him. We cannot understand the irrational. We can only observe it. So, how can a writer attempt to get into their head when their brains have been encoded improperly? The serial killer’s that is, not the writer’s. While you’re in there, you’re going to see disturbing things that can be the stuff of