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What does a perfect day look like?
Any idea of “perfect” must ultimately be subjective. Sometimes our collective imagination comes up with an oppressive perfect that we, as individuals, feel obligated to hold ourselves in comparison...
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White Silk: I.xxiv
List of Chapters Previous Section I.xxiv The arrow hits so hard it knocks the air out of my scream, and the moment freezes. I’m dead, I think. Then I look down and realize the arrow hasn’t buried...
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The Fact of Our Bodies
I originally wrote this essay months ago. I’ve put off editing and publishing it since. Honestly, I still don’t feel ready, but I’m afraid that if I don’t write it now I might lose it. And I’ve...
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White Silk: I.xxv
List of Chapters Previous Section I.xxv It was a rush of quiet first, when we all tried to figure on what had happened. Then one of us starts screaming for joy, and another says, “Quiet, fool.” I...
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White Silk: Exc. I.v
List of Chapters Previous Section Excerpt from Thrane Calton’s Heretic’s Voyage 1st ed., chpt. 2, par. 2 to 4, incl. footnotes There are few sensations so strange as knowing that you are the heretic...
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Support White Silk
Part One of The White Silk Chronicles is officially complete. Over the next five weeks, you will see an “interlude” set between Part One and Part Two that features a different narrator. After those...
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Interview with Worm Author John McCrae
I had the opportunity to do an interview with John McCrae, the author of the popular web serial Worm. Here is a transcript of that interview. Note that some minor segments have been edited or...
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White Silk: Interlude – I.i
List of Chapters Previous Section i. We are all given many names. Among my people, the first name of our childhood is called the “name given.” There are names beyond this, but they are not gifts. The...
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White Silk: Interlude – I.ii
List of Chapters Previous Section ii. These names are the beginning of my story, yet they are not the story I had meant to tell. It is so with western stories: You tell from the most distant to the...
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White Silk: Interlude – I.iii
List of Chapters Previous Section iii. The land is plagued with bandits. A century ago a man lost the name he was given and stole the name Shaix: The Shadow Dragon. In Castellon he broke the necks of...
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White Silk: Interlude – I.iv
List of Chapters Previous Section iv. Before the ashen night Lidahlia had spoken little, but in the days after she spoke nothing at all. She spent her time cleaning and whetting her daggers. When I...
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White Silk: Interlude – I.v
List of Chapters Previous Section v. We parted at the high hour of prayer, the bells tolling mid-day all around us, the sky clear and wide. I met with each of the men alone and told him my thanks. I...
View ArticleThe Usual Suspects: Questions to Unearth a Powerful Personal Narrative
Several of the questions from this list were pulled from The School of Arts and Enterprise, re-posted here with edits. The majority of the questions come from my own experience and brainstorming. The...
View ArticleListening to Ghosts: Picking the Topic for a Personal Narrative
Recently, one of my blog readers wrote to ask me the following question (paraphrased): Subject: How do you choose an autobiographical incident? I am a student of a creative writing class and my...
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My Favorite Love Story: Jaheira’s Loss
Many in my generation were handed fairy tales for love stories and happy endings as the promised reward, but my favorite love story is not so happy. It comes from Baldur’s Gate II—my favorite video...
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White Silk: Prologue
From Albrecht Mar of Tilyun—Royal Scribe and Royal Historian of the Court of the Castellonian Empire—writing to His Eminent Lord Cammen Castell III—Emporer of the Central Lands, King of Ten Thousand...
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8 Hilarious Videos to Watch for National Grammar Day
Happy National Grammar Day! (No, seriously. It’s a thing.) This holiday is relatively new (circa 2008), and comes to you from a group of enthusiastic grammar nerds. Now, I may not be quite as deep...
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Why Netflix Makes You a Better Writer
Today’s technology provides innumerable new resources for hopeful writers, and one of the most powerful learning hubs is found in online video. When used appropriately, services like Netflix, YouTube,...
View ArticleWhere the hell have I been?
This is one of those posts that only about 15% of you will care about. It’s not profound, creative, or even particularly well written. Rather, it’s my update on what I’ve been doing—accompanied by a...
View Article8 Musts for Writing a High-Impact “Linkbait List”
I’ve spent the last four years as a full-time freelancer, and there are plenty of things I wish I’d known about creating high-impact content when I started. The most valuable thing I’ve learned is how...
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