Story Rebel

I let the call go to voicemail, like I almost always do. Because I’m a millennial, sure. But also, because c’mon. It’s almost always a scam: a fake marketing agency offering to represent my book at Famous International Book Festival, or a trademark lawyer telling me to call them immediately about my Story Rebel filing, or—my fave—the IRS warning me that they’ve put a warrant out for my arrest. Anyway, I was rolling my bike out the door on my way to dinner when my phone began to buzz. I was in...

Hi Reader, I spent the last three months hanging out with the good folks at Indie Author Training, talking about one of my favorite things: how to write nonfiction that people actually can't put down. When I pitched IAT's training host Karen Guyler about doing a webinar for nonfiction authors, I presented three possible ideas. Her response? Let's do them all! This three-part series covered the reader promise, the book structure, and—my favorite part—stealing fiction techniques to make your...

Hi Reader, I was working on my book the other day, dictating with Wispr Flow as usual, when the Matrix glitched. Now, I love Wispr Flow and use it for everything because it's the most accurate voice-to-text program I've come across. But, like anything, even Wispr Flow can get haunted. So there I was. In the middle of a scene, in the middle of the book. I held down the Fn key to speak, rethought what I'd planned to say, and let the Fn key go without saying a word. Wispr Flow thought for a...

One of my favorite genres of Internet humor is one-star reviews of recipes left by people who should not be cooking. Here are some of my faves (mostly from this Bored Panda roundup). 1 Star ⭐: DISGUSTING! I ran out of orange juice so I used orange soda instead. 1 Star ⭐: Not making these again, I was on the phone talking to my sister and burnt up the whole batch. But the first time I made them they were amazing. 1 Star ⭐: Very good icing I just didn't realise that I couldn't substitute the...

Hey there! The instant I saw the shape on the page, I knew it wasn't going to work out. My client had brought me with her initial book outline. She'd been working on it hard for ages, coached by a well-meaning friend who wrote fiction. I could tell she was discouraged. She'd been trying to write this book for years, and she thought an outline would help. Instead, it had just made the book feel more out of reach. "Maybe I'm just not supposed to write this book," she said. I shook my head. "You...

Hey there! Before I cowrote my first book with a friend, I assumed that writing half the book meant doing half the work. Boy, was I wrong. I had so many misconceptions about what it would actually look like to cowrite a book before my friend Wade Peterson asked me to tackle a sci-fi project together. I'd never done it—and neither had he. Fortunately, we were smart enough to call up a couple of friends who had, and pick their brains about the process. We had so many questions. How do you split...