Five Writing Tips I’m Carrying into 2019

The joy I’m sparking in my new writing life

It’s a new year, and I for one am glad it’s over. Whew. This last year has been a wild ride for me. I am constantly amazed by how much of writing is a balancing act. I published over twenty-five separate works of writing in 2018, from poetry to fiction to essays. I put out my first-ever chapbook of words and images, Glimmerglass Girl. I launched a small indie SFF press. I met friends, took on new editing clients, and made new connections.

Yet somehow, I still feel like I’m always learning. Maybe that’s the thing about writing — maybe you never really finish improving. I’ve noticed this when I’m trying to revise a project. There comes a point where you just have to submit it already. And 2018 was a year that I learned to do just that — take the risk. Here are the five things I’m carrying with me into 2019:

1. Know, Don’t Show

“Creativity requires a certain level of basic knowledge about the world so that you can see connections between (apparently) unconnected things and craft variations that are genuinely new — the more you know about the world, the more raw material you have to work with.” — Ken Liu

I first heard this concept at a conference, and it’s probably not new to everyone reading this, but for me it was revelatory. I write a lot of fantasy and speculative works and this year I coined the concept of “Anti-worldbuilding.” It means telling the story of a world through the eyes of character and action. It also means you don’t have to spend time making a wiki for your work — you let the world build naturally.

2. Bring Your Best Bet to the Table

“It’s a weird, cyclical business, and you have to hang on through the ups and downs. You never know when something is going to hit, or crash. You have to see editors and publishers as gamblers betting on horses. You’re the horse…