Category: writing

• Uncommon Stock launches today!

  Available now! Wow! It’s been quite the twisty road getting here but Uncommon Stockis finally shipping. You can order it now from Amazon and other major retailers (if you want a print copy, please order through FG Press for the moment). You can even download a free excerpt here. Now, I need five minutes of…

• Editing a Novel: Copyediting

  Okay. Now we’ve touched on beta readers, your first line of defense against suckiness, and developmental editing, working on pacing, structure and character motivation. This episode in the Editing a Novel series focuses on copyediting. Copyediting is what I’ve always imagined the editorial process to be. I packaged up my manuscript and sent the file…

• Editing a Novel: Developmental Editing

  In the first episode of the Editing a Novel Series I talked about my experience with beta readers for Uncommon Stock and how writers can maximize the utility they get out of having a small group of qualified friends give feedback on their manuscript. Once you’ve gone through at least one iteration with beta readers…

• Editing a Novel: beta readers

  Since last July I’ve popped my editorial cherry by going through the process for the first time with Uncommon Stock. Editing is a painstaking, and often painful, undertaking that has a very different feel from pounding out the first draft. Before starting, I had no idea what the process even involved. After jumping in the…

• I’m getting published!

  It’s high time for an update on my upcoming novel, Uncommon Stock. Many of you know I’ve been working on it since last Fall and I’ve been so involved in the trenches of grinding through the writing process that I’ve been lax about keeping everyone up-to-date on progress. So here’s the deal. I finished the…

• Creating viral content

  I met with a friend this week who’s in the process of launching a fascinating new art/political campaign. It’s still stealth right now but they’re trying to lay the groundwork for viral growth once the story goes live. I followed up with some feedback/suggestions and I’ll share some the take-aways from that email here. Virality…

• Kevin Spacey on the future of storytelling

  Technology continues to shift the tectonic plates underlying the music/book/movie/TV/content industries. I’ve been learning a lot about the publishing side as I prepare to release my new book. Although the book and TV business may look very different from the outside, the fundamental dynamics of technological change are driving them all in the same direction.…

• Elmore Leonard on writing

  Famed crime novelist Elmore Leonard passed away this week. His gritty, dialogue-driven thrillers have helped to distinguish American popular fiction since he began writing more than fifty years ago. He published a famous op-ed in the New York times in 2001 summarizing all the essentials a beginning (or experienced) writer needs to know. I found…

• Done!

  We’re sitting here on Maafushi island in the Maldives and I just finished the first draft of my first book! Thanks  to all the people who helped out along the way with support, brainstorming and inspiration. Now the real work begins: editing… It’s a startup drama about a pair of founders who drop out of…

• I have a problem

  Why isn’t there more fiction about startups? Pounding out a chapter in Narita airport There are countless non-fiction books that explore different aspects of the venture world. They profile amazing and not so amazing companies, articulate best practices and share insights and advice. But there is so little good entrepreneurial fiction. There’s something about a really…