I’m sitting here contemplating my pyrographic habit. (No, no, no, pyrography. I know it looks like another word, but . . . oh, just click here to find out what it is, or here to see way better art than I can do, and here if you want to try it for yourself.) I’m not a very good artist, but wood is a wonderful medium and I enjoy it. In fact, it’s my second-favorite art hobby, and gets less eyebrow-raising than plastic bricks (even if it means I get invited to display at the National Air & Space Museum multiple times; yes, that’s me making a cameo in that article). [EDIT: the article on the other side of that last link no longer quotes me or talks about Lego, but still shows my space shuttle display in the picture.)
Hmm. I might have gone overbudget on links there.
Anyway, I tend to stress about what I work on sometimes. It doesn’t come out perfectly. I don’t have the steadiest hands, or the best skill. I get frustrated when comparing myself to other pyrographers, or even my friends who (while working in more traditional mediums) still outshine me effortlessly. I woke up today feeling discouraged about my talents.
And then, I managed to drag myself out of it. Continue reading
Novel Ninja 
Writing Maxim #1: Writing is an Art, Not a Science
Over the years, I’ve found myself repeating a few phrases over and over to authors of all levels, including clients, students, and lecture attendees. I eventually started calling them my maxims, and it’s high time I laid them out on my own site. After all, much of the reason for my blog updates is to give me a handy place to put stuff I already repeat a lot, so I can just link people to the post and save time in the future.
Today, it’s Writing is an art, not a science. Kind of obvious, since we call it a creative art rather than a scientific field, but it’s good to really think about what that means — especially authors worried about learning how to “do it right” or violating some kind of rule.
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