Get started. Finish a project. Do it again. Writing is an exploration. As many authors have famously paraphrased, it is like driving a car while hanging a flashlight out the window with your hand on fire and blaring “The End” on your stereo as you careen recklessly into a black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Or something like that. The original quote did, in fact, note that writing a story was an uncertain proposition requiring the attempt of writing before formation of

An active scene is a better scene. At least, that’s what I ended up learning this spring that has helped shape The Light in Darkness. After making substantial progress on my complete rewrite of The Light in Darkness, at about 65,000 words back in February, I attended a writing workshop hosted by my local writers association, Literary Cleveland. LitCLE assembled a beautiful event at Case Western Reserve University, with great author panels, attended by gracious hosts, and brim