Let Yourself Listen

Writing is about getting something down, not about thinking something up.... Once writing becomes an act of listening instead of an act of speech, a great deal of the ego goes out of it.... We can either "think of something to write about" or we can write about what we happen to be thinking about.

Initiation Tool

This tool encourages you to lighten up and stop taking writing so seriously that it is frightening.... Tell the storyteller five things you'd like to hear stories about.

1. Post-apocalyptic second coming
2. Lesbian prostitute in Victorian London
3. Steampunk Western involving culture clash
4. Terrorist invasion of preschool where President's daughter attends, heroic actions of preschool teacher who outwits the terrorists and saves all the kids, except maybe that one mean one you know will bite it from the beginning
5. Quest story centering on a woman, in the tradition of The Talisman, Earth Children, Outlander, etc.