I subscribe to the Feynman Technique of learning — the best way for me to cement my knowledge is to write about it. If someone else benefits from the knowledge, that’s amazing.
Let’s be honest, I’ve published a lot of my non-fiction so I can send it to people I know who ask me about stuff I know. A readable manuscript is the fastest way to transfer knowledge, which is something I’m deeply passionate about.
My writing books are all the kinds of titles I wish had existed on Readers Digest back when I paid some of my hard-earned high school job dollars to get their catalogs: lists, exercises, reusable elements so the books can be revisited again and again or become such integral systems into my processes that I forget where they came from.
And while Jake and I might publish a regular cookbook someday, Why Aren’t You Cooking? is a love letter to how he taught me the basics of cooking, therefore further cementing his on-the-job and culinary school knowledge. The circle of learning, y’all.
And, Scene! — Follow along with a method I’ve constructed from several powerful sources and refined over several years, which can help YOU bypass your inner editor and leave writer’s block in the rearview mirror.
Promptly: Write Fast, Write Now! — Mix and match the prompts in this book, from categories like characters, concepts, conflicts, and settings, and get a kick-start on your next great story idea!
Why Aren’t You Cooking? — You can get amazing cookbooks for $3 at thrift stores, but you’ll have a hard time finding a cooking companion quite like this short “how to cook” book. By choosing a few dishes you love to focus on, you’ll teach yourself the basics of home cooking and then scale up that system so in no time you can easily provide yourself with a year’s worth of satisfying meals made in your own kitchen.
Short Story Boot Camp — Want to produce short stories like I did in 2012? Look no further than this rigorous, exhausting 52-week course in how to write a tight, compelling tale, narrated by a jerk of a drill sergeant!
Robotics for Writers — My day job intersects significantly with large language models, the latest flavor of “artificial intelligence,” so here are my thoughts on how a modern-day writer can incorporate these tools into their process without removing any of the human element of a good story well told.