In Act 1 of a story with a 3-act structure, the protagonist often reaches the point of no return. Their old world crumbles, and they stumble forward into a new world, often reactively at first. There is no going back to the old world. In a novel or movie, there may be multiple progressive points…

I love mental and emotional resistance training because it has done so much for me over the years. It’s a fabulous way to think about skill-building when you’re diving into new territory, especially when you feel anxious, uncomfortable, or off balance. Consider learning how to record and publish videos online, for instance. So much of…

One thing I have to do ASAP for my novel writing project is to figure out some character and plot ideas. I don’t already have a story in mind, and I haven’t figured out any characters. I haven’t even picked a genre, so I’m really starting from scratch here. I’d love to have at least…

I spent some time today learning more about NaNoWriMo, including sifting through their member forums looking for beginner tips and suggestions. Fortunately there’s a ton of advice from other writers who’ve done NaNoWriMo many times before. I was curious how many people who sign up for NanoWriMo each year actually succeed at writing at least…

As I’ve shared previously, one of my goals for this year is to write a novel. I’ve never done that before. It’s been a stretch goal of mine for a long time, and I’ve decided the time has come to finally do it. To move this goal forward in a more concrete way, I signed…

Sometimes people don’t look at certain dark corners of their lives because they either want to keep their options open or they don’t want to “collapse the wave function” to a negative outcome. For instance, suppose you’re in a relationship and you suspect that your partner is secretly cheating on you. Or suppose you have…

By looking at a problem from multiple angles, you may spot a creative solution you hadn’t considered before. But another approach is to reframe the way you define the problem to begin with. For example, suppose you define your problem as how to get a new job during COVID times. Within that problem definition, you…

Have you ever connected with someone who had strong preconceived notions about what your spiritual path should look like? Apparently there’s a rulebook for being spiritual, and you have to satisfy certain criteria for how you’re supposed to think, feel, and behave in order to consider yourself a spiritual person. You got the memo summarizing…

One interesting frame shared in the book The Courage to Be Disliked is: All problems are interpersonal relationship problems. That isn’t necessarily a true statement, but you can think of it as a lens for viewing problems. Personally I think it’s a bit exaggerated as far as lenses go. I prefer a similar but more…

One really weird mindset I notice among certain readers looks something like this: My wife and I are both teachers. Our combined salary is $___. And in about five years, we’ll be earning $___. So based on this, we’re able to afford ___, but we won’t be able to afford ___. So the basic idea…