Let me show you one of my earliest rejection letters, from age 22. This rejection letter reshaped my entire thought process around rejection and in retrospect was foundational in my career. Let me walk you through how it blew my young mind and made me rethink how I would view rejections forever. Most writers would […]
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Since I read #95books every year, and write screenplays, people often ask me what screenwriting books I recommend. This page archives my top recommendations. I will update this page regularly to reflect my reading around the topic. Sign up below and I will email you free format samples so you can see the basic differences […]
No good name for experimental art exists. Many object to the scientistic experimental, claiming either that science has a capitalistic classism or art should not be reduced to a form of knowledge-production. Less grandly but more eloquently, filmmaker Guy Maddin once (in conversation) objected that it annoyed him when people called his work experimental, because he wasn’t experimenting, […]
Recently, I was asked to watch and give feedback on a cut of a short film called LOVE SONG by its co-creators Michael Sanders (director, photographer, kingpin of Electric Monk Media) and GMB Chomichuk (writer/illustrator, graphic novelist). We were joined by composer Jesse Hamel, who created the soundtrack for the film. Michael also owed me […]
As a writer, what matters more than talent, even more than hard work, is your mindset. (You need all three; in order of importance it goes mindset, hard work, talent.) Professionals can smell amateurs coming at them from a hundred miles away. Let’s look closely, very closely, at the simplest example of how this plays […]
The #95books reading challenge is simple: commit to reading 95 books over 12 months. I offer a free ebook called You Can Read #95books This Year that you can download through this link, which offers my best tips to help you read more. (Even if you feel like #95books is overkill, you can still use those […]
Christmas Day has come, and my gift to you, as it is every Tuesday, is a new episode of my podcast, Writing the Wrong Way. Last week, I tackled the topic of productivity, and this week (in keeping with the holiday), I want to talk about generosity. I believe writers should be generous. At its […]
Unfortunately, most writers see themselves as artists. However, writing is not art. Literature is art, but writing is manual labour. If you want to create great art, you have to sit down at your desk and push all thoughts of that goal from your mind. Instead of the hoped-for product of your work, you need to […]
Angie Abdou discusses the research process for fiction writing. Writing the Wrong Way with Jonathan Ball, PhD is the perfect podcast for serious writers who want to stand out in a crowded industry by becoming more productive while taking more artistic risks. Jonathan Ball, an author with a PhD in literature, interviews writers, screenwriters, musicians, […]
