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The coolest ghostwriting blog on the planet.

An alleged SEO expert emailed me. This is what followed.

November 4, 2023June 4, 2026

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The descriptive powers of the great John Houseman.

September 27, 2023June 4, 2026

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The A.I. bot says: “Get out of the chair. Go have a drink. I’ll do the writing.”

July 24, 2023June 4, 2026

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The U.S. editor-in-chief of TechRadar.com tries to get ChatGPT to write a screenplay.

June 9, 2023June 4, 2026

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“And no one can talk to a horse of course.” Wrong!

May 18, 2023June 4, 2026

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The last of the three-dot journalists.

April 21, 2023June 4, 2026

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Unmarked graves out past Terlingua

April 6, 2023June 4, 2026

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Words + emotion + lies = propaganda. Meet Joseph Goebbels.

February 26, 2023June 4, 2026

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What the boss does for fun. Buckle up. Yee-haw!

January 20, 2023June 4, 2026

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This is really what it’s like to be an editor.

December 30, 2022June 4, 2026

I came across this comical image while searching for a photo to illustrate our new page on editing and proofreading services. It Read More...

The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.

Mickey Spillane

Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.

Orson Scott Card

When writing a novel, that’s pretty much entirely what life turns into: “House burned down. Car stolen. Cat exploded. Did 1,500 easy words, so all in all it was a pretty good day.”

Neil Gaiman

If you start with a bang, you won’t end with a whimper.

T.S. Eliot

I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.

Stephen Wright

The reason 99% of all stories written are not bought by editors is very simple. Editors never buy manuscripts that are left on the closet shelf at home.

John Campbell

If you wait for inspiration to write, you’re not a writer. You’re a waiter.

Dan Poynter

The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.

Thomas Jefferson

Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

Mark Twain

A true author, no matter the medium, is an artist with godlike knowledge of his subject, and the proof of his authorship is that his pages smack of authority.

Robert McKee

Don’t annoy an author, you’ll end up in their book and you won’t look good.

Lawrence Wray

Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.

Robert A. Heinlein

Stories are never too long or too short. They’re too interesting or too boring.

William Shawn

Socially, a journalist fits in somewhere between a whore and a bartender. But spiritually he stands beside Galileo. He knows the world is round.

Sherman Reilly Duffy

I have long felt that any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has just put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae or banana split.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr

Work on a computer that is disconnected from the Internet.

Zadie Smith

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs.

Christopher Hampton

It always comes down to characters, and individual stories about courage.

Steven Bochco

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.

G.K. Chesterton

It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.