I am a lover of most things comedy: stories, movies, and TV shows. For me, comedic writing is one of the toughest genres to write. So many of us (new and old writers) try too hard to be funny, and in the end, it sounds forced and… well, just plain not funny. Comedies entertain me, and they also make me think. Slapstick, ridiculous comedies (sometimes fused with drama) like Psych ; genre-shifting, parody-laden, bawdy comedies like Archer  (my fave show on TV); and comedies that speak harsh truths to social issues, such as Chappelle's Show all speak to my funny bone. As a writer, I like thinking about the comedic writers' ability to make comedy integral to a story, not forced but fluid. The biggest takeaway I get from good comedic writing is TIMING, and to that end, comedy has a lot to do with music; it, too, has rhythm, tempo, beat. Those stories, movies, and TV shows that infuse comedy in a fluid way, making it integral to the storyline, have a rhythm to the sto...

A few weeks ago, I had a dream. Or maybe it wasn't really a dream, but a vision. I was half awake in that suspended time before dawn. All my joints ached, and even worse, my foot throbbed from where I'd crashed into a wooden box earlier in the day, breaking my middle toes. It was just enough pain to send me over the edge. With tears streaming down my face, I whispered, "Just let me go. I can't hurt like this anymore." You can't go yet. You have ten books to write. What? The thought had slammed into my head. Not mine. It came from somewhere else, and you can bet I bolted straight out of bed! I limped into the kitchen for water, heart pounding. What the hell? I started thinking about the books I had in process, how long it might take to finish them, and how much time I actually needed to stay alive to complete this mission. Ten years would do it, I figured. I could write a book a year, and that would be generous, with plenty of time for revision and a...