Even I, a self-confessed idea junkie who loves nothing better than thinking up ideas to research and pitch to magazine editors, go through periods where all my ideas feel uninspired and blah. These periods usually occur in late fall and early winter, when the days are...

I meet a lot of writers who want to write essays.

Scratch that. They want to be paid when they write essays. Now there's nothing wrong with wanting to write—and get paid for writing—essays. However, if you're an avid reader of popular newsstand magazines, you know that...

(I wrote this blog post years ago for the now defunct Renegade Writer blog and am republishing it here for my Become an Idea Machine students and the general reading public. It's a bit outdated; Borders has been out of business for years, but a lot of the tips still wo...

My fall schedule is firmed up and I'm excited that I'll be teaching my popular Become an Idea Machine class again, starting Monday, October 16, 2017. I hope you'll join me for three weeks of super-intensive story idea generation!

Maybe this is true for you, too, but in...

This blog post was previously published on the now defunct Renegade Writer blog. It's an oldie but goodie, still relevant today. I've made a couple minor edits, but otherwise here it is in all its previous glory. Enjoy!

Like many freelancers, you probably want to sell m...