The Difference Between Wanting to Be Published and Wanting to Be a Writer

There’s a statistic that gets quoted a lot in writing circles: somewhere around 80–82% of Americans say they want to write a book. And yet only a tiny fraction—perhaps 1–3%—ever finish one. It’s easy to hear that and feel judgmental, or defensive, or quietly smug if you’re one of the people still showing up to the page. But I don’t think this gap is about laziness or lack of talent.

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Moderating a Panel: Setting Everyone Up to Succeed

Moderating a convention panel is not about control—it’s about facilitation. Your job is to make the panelists comfortable, the conversation engaging, and the audience glad they came. The single most effective thing you can do is prepare questions in advance. Thoughtful, open-ended questions create structure without rigidity. Even better: share those questions with panelists ahead of time. This doesn’t kill spontaneity—it enhances it by giving people space to think.

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Why Comparison Hurts More After You Improve

Early on, comparison barely registers. When you’re just starting out, the gap between your work and the writers you admire is so large it feels abstract. You expect to be behind. You’re learning the rules. Everyone else seems to be playing a different game. Then something shifts. You improve. Your sentences get cleaner. Your instincts sharpen. You start getting better feedback, maybe even a publication or two.

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Dictation and the Myth of the “Perfect First Draft”

I’ve been experimenting with dictation again, and this time it’s working—mostly because I finally stopped asking it to do something it never could. The first time I used dictation, it worked beautifully for blog posts like this one. Factual writing. Logical sequences. Structured arguments. I could talk through an idea and watch it appear on the page, mostly intact. That’s where dictation shines for me: when I already know what I want to say and just need to get it out efficiently.

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Why Some Writers Stall After Early Success

Early success is supposed to be motivating. A first publication. A contest win. A personal note from an editor you admire. These moments feel like proof: I can do this. And often, they are. But sometimes , that early success becomes a strange kind of sticking point. The work slows. Submissions become cautious. Drafts pile up unfinished. From the outside it looks like confidence should be growing—but internally, something has shifted.

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Preparing for a Convention Panel (Without Losing Your Mind)

Being invited onto a convention panel can be flattering—and surprisingly stressful. You want to sound smart. You want to contribute. You don’t want to freeze or ramble or realize halfway through that you have nothing useful to say. One of the best ways to reduce that stress is to reframe the panel. You’re not being asked to deliver brilliance on demand.

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Deleting What Counts by Gideon P. Smith | Anomaly

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The Quiet Grief of the Story That Almost Worked

Last year I had 10 'Holds' from magazines for short stories - but only one turned into an acceptance in the end. This taught me that there’s a particular kind of disappointment that doesn’t get talked about much in writing circles: the story that almost worked. Not the obvious failure. Not the piece that was clearly broken from the start. But the one that came back with a personal note.

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"Honesty to a Vulture" by Gideon P. Smith

Scorned by society, a necromancer struggles to work for good. Written by Gideon P. Smith. Featured in Baubles From Bones: Issue 8.

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Are There Really “Stages” to a Writer?

People love labels. In writing circles we talk casually about beginners, emerging writers, mid-career authors, established voices. These terms get used as shorthand, but rarely do we stop to ask: what do they actually mean? For many people outside the writing world, the litmus test is simple: Have you written a novel? If the answer is yes, you’re a “real writer.” If not, you’re still practicing.

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Why “Write What You Love” Is Only Half the Advice

“Write what you love” is some of the best writing advice you’ll ever hear—and also some of the most incomplete. And with Valentine's day coming, it seemed an apropos theme for today. On its own, the advice is freeing. It gives permission. It pushes back against trend-chasing and imitation. It reminds you that the emotional engine of a story has to come from somewhere real, or the work will feel hollow.

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Why Characters Matter More in Genre Fiction

Writers often talk around a distinction between literary and genre fiction without ever quite naming it. To me, it hinges on the relative importance of theme vs character. In literary fiction, characters are expected to be fully realized, three-dimensional, and psychologically believable. But here’s the uncomfortable part: they almost don’t matter. You don’t have to like them. They don’t have to change.

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Voice Isn’t Something You “Find”—It’s Something That Survives Revision

Writers talk about voice the way people talk about buried treasure. As if it’s something hidden inside you, waiting to be uncovered if you just dig deeply enough. Find your voice. Trust your voice. Don’t lose your voice. That framing sounds romantic—but it’s also deeply misleading. In practice, voice isn’t something you discover fully formed. It’s something that survives the process of writing, revising, cutting, receiving feedback, and writing again anyway.

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Year in Review 2025: A Year of Middle Grounds, Big Leaps, and Quiet Transformations

For the last few years I’ve made a habit of writing a New Year's “Year in Review” post—a way to remind myself that even when the milestones aren’t the ones I once imagined, the work still matters, the trajectory still curves upward, and the person doing the writing continues to evolve. 2025 was the year that principle felt especially true. This was a year of middle grounds, of in-between places… but also a year with some of my biggest leaps forward.

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Your Approach to Rejection Matters Less Than That you Risk it

It’s often said that moving is one of life’s top stressors—right up there with divorce and death. Having endured a move earlier this year (complete with nightmare movers and chaos in cardboard), I can confirm that’s no exaggeration. But whoever came up with that list clearly wasn’t a writer. Because if they were, “literary rejection” would be right up there too.

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2026 Submission Schedule | Flash Fiction Online

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When an Acceptance Turns Sour

One of the most thrilling moments in a writer’s life is receiving that long-awaited yes—an acceptance letter after dozens, maybe hundreds, of rejections. It’s the kind of moment that’s meant to be savored, a bright spark of validation in a career often defined by perseverance and uncertainty. But sometimes, even that joy can curdle. Recently, I had a piece accepted by a publication.

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Why Rejection Doesn’t Mean Your Story Is Bad

As a slush reader for various speculative fiction magazines, I’ve learned one fundamental truth: taste is messy. It’s subjective, inconsistent, and often deeply personal. If you’ve ever submitted a story and been rejected in the first round, you’re in good company—and you might be surprised to know how many of those rejections have less to do with quality and more to do with the unpredictable Venn diagram of reader taste.

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Twisted Trails: Tales of the Weird Wild West (Shacklebound Books)

Amazon.com: Twisted Trails: Tales of the Weird Wild West (Shacklebound Books) eBook : Fomley, Eric: Kindle Store

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When Revision or Feedback Kills the Magic

As a slush reader, one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve experienced is seeing a story I loved—a story that stood out from the pile, that felt fresh and alive—come back as an R&R (revise and resubmit)... and lose everything that made it special. It’s not that the writer lacked talent—far from it. The original version was strong enough to catch an editor’s eye, after all.

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The Myth of the ‘One Piece of Advice’

To be succesful at writing, I've come to believe that its more your ability to juggle, than anything else that will help you. But there’s a peculiar myth that runs through popular culture—the idea that success boils down to one secret, one golden rule, one repeatable habit that will unlock greatness. Ask a Hollywood star how they got shredded for a role, and the answer is often “chicken.” Just lots and lots of chicken.

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The Creative Power of Chaos: Why Randomness Makes Your Writing Stronger

Writers love control. We plan plots, build worlds, craft character arcs, and agonize over word choice. Writing can feel like architecture—careful, precise, calculated. But sometimes, we need a little chaos. Enter randomness. Randomness might seem antithetical to craft, but it’s actually one of the most powerful tools in a writer’s creative arsenal. Whether you’re rolling writing prompt dice, opening a dictionary to a random page, or combining unrelated ideas (pirate + ghost + IKEA catalog = yes please), inviting chance into your process can unlock surprising depth and originality in your work.

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Dragon Con - Largest Multi-genre and Pop Culture Convention

Dragon Con is an annual multi-media and pop culture event held on the Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. Hosting the parade, gaming, art show, awards, and other events.

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Writing Is Like Going to the Gym: Why It Gets Harder, Not Easier—and What to Do About It

When you start going to the gym, it’s hard. Your muscles ache. You’re not in the habit, so every visit feels like a chore. But then—suddenly—it starts to click. You feel stronger. You might even look a little better in the mirror. The early “easy gains” roll in. You get hooked. And then? It gets hard again. You’ve passed the beginner gains, and to improve now, you have to lift more.

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