Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write (A Fiction Writing Course)

Best-Selling Author Finds Perfect RPG

2010-03-14T09:24:00.003-05:00

Best selling historical fiction author, Scott Oden (Men of Bronze 2005, Memnon 2006), finds, in his opinion, the perfect RPG for adventuring in Rome: Live and Death of the Republic.

It's quite a review and well worth reading - as are Scott's books - as is this RPG - as is *boom*

That was my wallet exploding as I run off to buy all this cool stuff. Check out this review at your own risk.

Game on!

Launched a new RPG Writing Blog

2008-09-06T21:34:00.002-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

I noticed I'd drifted off topic and begun filling up this blog with info and news about my rpg writing. Since that's different from fiction writing, I figured it deserved its own blog. And so here it is! You can find out about all things rpg+Lou Agresta at RPGAggression.

I'm Back!

2008-01-15T15:40:00.000-05:00

Hey all,

I haven't posted in nearly 6 months, and here's some of what has been going on:

- my wife and I had a baby. Kaylie Rain Agresta. If you like, you can check out some pictures at www.kaylierain.com

- I was accepted into a Freelance Writer's Guild call the Were Cabbages. Mostly writing RPG, other game, comic and related prodcut, this wonderful, talented international crew publishes like mad. You can check them out and even subscribe to a what's new email at www.werecabbages.com

- I've got my first publication coming out! Go me! It's a book called GM Gems and is written by a bunch of Werecabbages and published by Goodman Games. You can check it out here: http://www.goodmangames.com/4371preview.php.

- A few more pieces are coming out. With about 6 or 7 other Cabbages, we've written a city book with a working title of Azindralea: The Great City and it's going to be published by Mario Barbati of 0onegames. Soon, you'll be able to pick it up here: http://0onegames.com/catalog/

- I just submitted and adventure for Louis Porter Junior Designs, kicking off his new adenture line Sidetrek Adventure Weekly. I'm real pleased with this piece! Read more about it here: http://www.lpjdesign.com/

Last but not least, I'm working on 2 or 3 more projects that I'm not allowed to discuss just yet. Yay! Paid writing work.

Big thanks to: Nic Logue, Tim Hitchcock, Greg Oppedisano and my wife Martha!

The Merry Gazetteer, Part I

2007-07-22T14:19:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction
"The Merry Gazetteer, Part 1"
by Jay Robison

One can only bang one's head against the brick wall of the film industry for so long. Short fiction has proven to be my path—for now—to publication, but to tell that story, I'll have to start with the phenomenon of fan fiction.

I'm convinced that fan fiction has existed ever since the very first storyteller told the very first story. What probably happened was that the next day, a group of bored cavemen gathered around the fire and told their version of the story, spinning off tales starring minor characters in their own plot thread. As with other forms of self-publishing, however, fan-fiction has really exploded with the internet. At a fan site dedicated to Jean Auel's Earth's Children series (www.ecfans.com), there are stories covering everything from time travel involving Earth's Children characters to entire alternate novels. Proof, if nothing else, that fans will entertain themselves if they have to wait a decade-plus between installments, as Auel's readers (myself among them) had to wait 12 years between Plains of Passage and The Shelters of Stone.

There are any number of sites for any number of series, especially science fiction and fantasy television and literary series. Most creators choose to ignore what is technically a breach of copyright, since people running fan fiction sites are not profiting from giving fans a place to publish their fiction. But one author has taken a radically different approach.

Eric Flint had already published a couple of successful fantasy novels, including Mutter of Demons and The Philosophical Strangler, published by Baen Books. I will save the full story of the birth of the Baen's Bar online community and how it impacted the fictional universe of Flint's alternate history novel 1632 in part 2, but as part of his research for that novel—in which a West Virginia mining town gets swept back in time to war-ravaged 17th century Germany—Flint turned to Baen's budding online community to seek the technical advice in order to make a story with a fantastic premise as believable as possible.

A side effect was the fan fiction; inevitably, people started posting their own stories. Flint thought enough of them were good to include them in anthology of 1632-set stories entitled Ring of Fire, featuring stories by first-time authors from "The Bar" alongside work from professionals such as David Weber and Mercedes Lackey. But the stories kept coming, and enough of them were still good that Flint and the late Jim Baen created The Grantville Gazette as a home for these stories, paying semi-professional rates (2.5 cents per word for stories of 15,000 words or less). From there, things just took off—issue 12 has just been posted online at www.baen.com or www.grantvillegazette.com.

My first story appeared in issue number 5. Entitled "Breaking News," it dealt with a clash of source between of thirst for instant news on the part of the Grantville inhabitants born in the 20th century and the realities of their new home in the 17th century. It's also the beginning of a love story between my two main characters: fictional character James Byron "Jabe" McDougal, a shy 18 year-old with a digital camera and an iMac, and Prudentia Gentileschi, a "real" character from history—daughter of noted Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi.

How to describe the feeling of seeing a story of mine in print? It may be cliché, but it was a total rush! It wasn't so much getting paid for the first time, as gratifying as that was. It was a combination of the feeling that someone, a professional full-time writer no less, thought enough of one of my stories that he actually wanted to pay to run it and the fact that a few thousand people would be reading my work. It was validating and it boosted my confidence.

I've been writing ever since I can remember, filling notebooks with fictional adventures since about age 7. On some level, I suppose, I always knew I had to be a writer. But my formal training has come as a screenwriter, I'd abandoned prose in favor of the elusive dream of writing a hot script that would net me an agent if not a six- or seven-figure deal. I was locked into getting something produced for the screen to the exclusion of any other kind of writing.

Thanks to getting published in The Grantville Gazette, I can imagine other ways to be a professional writer. I haven't given up on the idea of writing for TV or film, but I feel like I can publish a novel or other work now and that getting a screenplay produced isn't my only option. Since "Breaking News" I've had four more fiction stories published in the Gazette and a non-fiction essay will appear in the upcoming issue #14. And my story "Trials" will appear in Ring of Fire 2, which should be available from Baen Books in January 2008.

In part two I'll give you the story from the people most involved in The Grantville Gazette, Eric Flint and Gazette editor Paula Goodlett.

Jay Robison's list of published stories:

"Breaking News" (Grantville Gazette #5)
"Mightier Than the Sword" (GG #6)
"The Sons of St. John" (GG #8)
"O For a Muse of Fire" (GG #11)
"Radio Killed the Video Star" (GG # 14, upcoming)
"Trials" (Ring of Fire 2, forthcoming)

The Adventures of DM Dubya - Chpt 6

2007-07-08T09:05:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction
written by David Hall
illustrated by Jay Robison

page 24............................page 25

page 26............................page 27

page 28............................page 29

The Adventures of DM Dubya - Chpt 5

2007-07-05T11:17:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction
written by David Hall
illustrated by Jay Robison

Page 20...........................Page 21

Page 22...........................Page 23

The Adventures of DM Dubya - Chpt 4

2007-06-13T23:11:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction
written by David Hall
illustrated by Jay Robison

Page 15..............................Page 16

Page 17..............................Page 18

Page 19

The Adventures of DM Dubya - Chpt 3

2007-06-06T19:21:00.001-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction
written by David Hall
illustrated by Jay Robison

Page 10............................Page 11

Page 12............................Page 13

Page 14

The Adventures of DM Dubya - Chpt 2

2007-06-03T23:36:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction
written by David Hall
illustrated by Jay Robison

Page 5..............................Page 6

Page 7..............................Page 8

Page 9

The Adventures of DM Dubya - Chpt 1

2007-05-30T10:13:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

There is already a link to DM Dubya on this site, and it points to contributor Jay Robison's (illustrator) excellent blog. Jay's blog is filled with excellent stuff, making DM Dubya a little hard to find; so I thought I'd help share by using a few posts. Enjoy!

Cover..........................Page 1

Page 2.........................Page 3

Page 4

I'm a dad!

2007-05-08T23:57:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

Our daughter, Kaylie, has been born. This mini web site will tell you all about it - pctures too.
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeqrgz6/papercoach/kaylie/index.htm

Now I'll have even more life stuff to write about!

Life Continues to Happen

2007-03-29T07:30:00.000-05:00

Papercoach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

Life continues to happen, while writing progresses very, very slowly. My wife will be giving birth to our first child in early May. As a result, I'm not sure how frequently I'll be able to post in the next 2-3 months (I'm sure you've all noticed a drop-off already).

On the good side my wife will be giving birth to our first child in early May!

That said, none of this stops you all from posting your hearts out; so, good luck, write on, and don't look back!

- Lou

Taxes: Making Death More Attractive and Writing Absolute Heaven!

2007-03-10T13:55:00.000-05:00

Papercoach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

Still in mad, mad, mad tax land. Still not writing much. However these are no excuses not to deliver the next installment in the AVMI writer's prompt. That's animal, vegetable, mineral and intangible. So try writing - or at least starting - a short story using the words dolphin, bran, jack hammer, and cupidity.

Good luck, write on, and don't look back!

Guilt and Taxes

2007-02-28T18:57:00.000-05:00

Papercoach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

I've been on vacation for a week and just returned, and the first thing I feel on arrival? Guilt. It's not productive but there it is - guilt for not writing. Guilt for not writing the moment I returned and doing my taxes instead.

Taxes are one of those ugly things you must do, on a schedule but hate. I must do it. It's inescapable, like death -- the other side to the famous diad. So why the guilt?

It doesn't make any sense.

So my response is to barrel into my taxes like a madman, attempting to get them done as fast as humanly possible, so I can return to my writing. This is very stressful, and I don't think it's all that healthy, but I can't seem to stop myself.

Later, when I finally finish the [insert anything, but I'm talking taxes] I find myself staring at my writing, panting and feeling damn pressurized to finally WRITE.

Yikes. No stress.

All this garden style neurosis fails to help my writing. I know. Stress is bad for writing. I know.

But there you have it. Like taxes, my stress seems inescapable. Hell, if I didn't have these neurosis around my writing I would have finished learning and been writing for much longer, now wouldn't I?

So, great analysis Freud, but what do I do about it?

Someone I respect once told me that my biggest challenge (now is that a failing in disguise? or is it the other way around?), is something called time-slicing. Time slicing is when -- instead of focusing, gangbusters on one task -- you do a little bit of this, a little bit of that, some of that over there, some more of this here, each day. That way you make small, but measurable progress on many things at once with no stress (or reduced stress). Why no stress? Because everything is moving forward -- so goes the theory -- nothing ever reaches a crisis, and all is finished in its good time. I think my friend is right.

And I HATE working that way.

I despise it. I want to leap in and do, do, do, do, do. Totally immersed. Totally in the moment. Engaged and swallowed by writing (or anything, really). I feel this is the quintessential artist's mindset.

Which means, when I'm not swallowed in the writing -- when I'm doing something I have to do but don't wish to do (like taxes), I'm extremely anxious. I'm stressed about not 'doing' writing. Why? Because the vague term 'doing' is defined, for me, as total immersion. 'Doing' is not defined as 'made a little forward progress today.' And all this self-imposed pressure makes for poor writing and less productivity.

Sucky.

Here's my biggest challenge: become calm and sufficiently stress free that at anytime, at any moment, for any duration I can whip out a notepad and just write. Write in the cracks, the spaces, and -- sure -- the big long multi-hour sessions when I've got them. But most importantly, learn to immerse in seconds and for brief periods as well as slowly for long periods.

If I don't learn this, I fear I'm doomed to do nothing but my taxes, forever.

How to Keep From Jumping Out a Window Part 2 of 2 (reissue)

2007-02-12T00:11:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

Lou's Note: Since contributor M. M. DeVoe' short story was recently released (see post Paper Coach Contributor Published Again 2/6/07), it seems a good time to repost her earliest advice & thoughts for those subscribers who may have missed them the first time around.

by M. M. De Voe

3) A secret way in
The best way to really understand your market is to get a (probably unpaid) job as a reader. Just volunteer. Most magazines would be thrilled with 5 hours per week if you are dedicated and good. They all have slush piles taller than their nieces, and they really truly want to get through them - they just don't want to read it themselves. And while NYC is teeming with a zillion magazines, even most small towns have little literary magazines or local fanzines that could use your help. You can always quit after about six months, and the education is invaluable. And the best part is that you then know the entire editorial staff, and guess what? When you know editors, they tend to open your brown manilla envelopes.

4) How to keep from jumping
Nothing is working. You are just as brilliant as ever. You send out regularly, a story a week. You keep track of your submissions, and you send to the appropriate magazine. You even get great rejections with things scrawled across the bottom of the form-letter like, "enjoyed this, keep writing!" or "sorry about this, please submit again!"

Take these seriously. Editors who write you a note are serious about their notes. They don't have to write notes; they are trying to keep you away from the narrow ledge. Many times rejections are for stupid things like 1) we just printed three stories about old age, 2) we have a long story by [insert Famous Author] which we have to fit in this month, 3) the other submission was a prize winner and the author probably will publish a novel this month; if we print his story and not yours we'll probably sell more magazines.

There it is: sell more magazines. That's ALL that editors care about. They love to read good stories, they love to publish them too, but the bottom line is that they are trying to sell more magazines. So get the hell away from the window ledge and start writing again. It's a crap-shoot: if you write well, you are in direct competition with everyone else in the world who also writes well and has cool ideas and can follow writer's guidelines. All you can do to make yourself stand out is either 1) meet people in the industry or 2) distinguish yourself by your writing. Choose your course, and send out twice as many stories every week. It's tedious, but if you never send out, you'll never get published.

And if you're sending out a novel, make sure it's perfect. Think how easily you judge books that you read yourself, and realize that agents and publishers have even larger shelves of "I have to get around to reading these books". So forgive them their empty rejection letters and get an office on a ground floor.

- M. M. De Voe

M.M. Devoe's fiction has appeared in the Oklahoma review, THEMA, The First Line, the Columbia Daily Spectator, and been anthologized in both Stirring Up A Stormand Lithuania: In Her Own Words. Recently, she has won awards, mention, or been shortlisted for the H. E. Francis Short Story Competition 2002, the Fish Publishing's 2003 Short Story Prize, the 2004 Bellwether Prize, the 2004 Dana Awards, and the 2005 Pushcart Prize. Check her out at: www.mmdevoe.com

How to Keep From Jumping Out a Window Part 1 of 2 (reissue)

2007-02-09T12:52:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

Lou's Note: Since contributor M. M. DeVoe' short story was recently released (see post Paper Coach Contributor Published Again 2/6/07), it seems a good time to repost her earliest advice & thoughts for those subscribers who may have missed them the first time around.

by M. M. De Voe

You have been writing your fingers raw for a year, you love your stories--everyone who reads your stories loves your stories! So what's going on? Why isn't the world rolling out that thick green Barnes and Noble carpeting before your feet? Let's find out.

1) Do your friends have little comments to add after reading your brilliant work? Are you listening to those comments?
If more than one person says "um, I loved this, but there was just one piece I didn't get..." take a look at that "little piece" and see if you can sharpen it up. It may help you to form or join a writers' circle. This way, you get a ton of criticism, so much of it that you start learning which is valid and which is spurious. This is an invaluable talent. IF you get no valuable comments after three submissions to the group, leave the group. Find/form a new one. You need great readers. Let me repeat: you NEED great readers.

One of the hardest things about being a writer is that magazines reject you without telling you why. With practice, you can weed out the "I don't like stories about elves" comments from the "this story made no sense" comments -- not to mention the comments for which you should take friends out for a beer. I'm talking about, "This character was brilliant as a focal point, but when she vanished, the story became boring." or "I got so lost in your descriptions that I couldn't follow the plot." Anytime your friends can't follow the plot, it's time to rework the story.

2) Do you know enough about your market?
First (and this is totally obvious, but everyone gets lazy) read the writer's guidelines. They are usually in the magazine or on the website of your target. If you don't read them EVERY SINGLE TIME, you'll never see the bold type that says "do not staple" or "send three copies" -- and failing to follow these bold instructions will immediately get you rejected. They won't even read the first sentence. Editorial staffs change, times change, guidelines change. Go and read those guidelines for every single submission.

Your stuff also has to be contemporary. If you are a sci-fi writer, you should be reading a ton of NEW sci-fi--see what sells. Yes, of course, you want to be unique and have your own voice and all that, but if you are reading this article, you're not selling your stuff, and this may very well be why: perhaps your writing just isn't "of the moment." If you are writing like Asimov, cut it out and start writing like someone who is still alive (preferably yourself). If you want to write for television, you better be reading Sorkin's scripts, and not watching late-night reruns on TV Land.

In Part 2 of "How To Keep From Jumping Out A Window":
3) A secret way in, and
4) How to keep from jumping

M.M. Devoe's fiction has appeared in the Oklahoma review, THEMA, The First Line, the Columbia Daily Spectator, and been anthologized in both Stirring Up A Stormand Lithuania: In Her Own Words. Recently, she has won awards, mention, or been shortlisted for the H. E. Francis Short Story Competition 2002, the Fish Publishing's 2003 Short Story Prize, the 2004 Bellwether Prize, the 2004 Dana Awards, and the 2005 Pushcart Prize. Check her out at: www.mmdevoe.com

Not Quite Weekly Writing Prompt #7

2007-02-07T18:56:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

Write a story around these four words: teetotaler, coyote, tuning fork, and proskynesis. Post the results and, as always: good luck, write on, and never look back!

Paper Coach Contributor Published Again

2007-02-06T00:16:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

M. M. De Voe - author and Paper Coach contributor - has had another work published!

You can read it at www.ficklemuses.com

Why I Haven't Blogged Recently

2007-01-27T11:27:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

Hey all, nothing useful to your writing in this post. Just letting you know I've been down for the count with two back to back flus (of different, horrid stripes), but expect to be posting again soon.

Good luck, write on, and never look back!

Nugget #9: Truth

2007-01-18T11:11:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

The acknowledged greats of the literary canon all demand truth, that we "write honestly". It is hard to find a renowned author who hasn't unleashed this imperative on aspiring writers. What does this actually mean, this call to truth? Julia Cameron caught the mechanic behind writing-with-truth and drove it home with a clarity that may authors' witty aphorisms or self-inflated declarations lack.

She writes, "When we are telling the truth about how we feel and what we see, we find very precise language with which to do it. Words do not fail us. When we are disguising to ourselves and to others the exact nature of what we thought or how we felt, our prose goes mushy along with our thinking." - Julia Cameron

I couldn't agree more.

Nugget #8: Omitting

2007-01-07T13:51:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

"a writer...may omit things that he knows...the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them...a writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing."
- Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon, p. 192

Thoughts As I Go #7: Strict or Flexible?

2007-01-03T21:00:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

Phase:1, Month:5, Week:1

I've noticed a certain phenomena recently. It has come up as I work with Julia Cameron's The Right to Write. I frequently find myself in places where I can read her book but have no ability to do the exercise (for example, standing on the subway). This happens a few times in a row. Now I've read three or four chapters in, but haven't done any exercises.

Is this good or bad? Helpful or harmful to swift progress?

I'm still doing the exercises, just in a 'catch up' fashion. Here's what I do: on the chapter page I draw two boxes. I label the first box "Reading" and the second box "Exercises". Then I check the respective boxes as I finish the reading and the exercises in that chapter.

Right now, I have three chapters with the reading, but not the exercises, checked off.

So is this getting ahead of myself, or just being flexible with the time my life offers?

Thoughts anyone?

Not Quite Weekly Writing Prompt #6

2006-12-28T17:21:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

End a story using these words: beetle, aluminum stool, and flense.

Post those results and, as always: good luck, write on, and never look back!

Thoughts As I Go #6: Gap Analysis For a Writing Life

2006-12-20T19:39:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

Phase:1, Month:4, Week:3
Phase:1, Month:4, Week:4

I just completed Chapter 21 in Cameron’s The Right to Write. It was an interesting chapter, and I wanted to share a few thoughts from it that feel useful.

Here’s a paraphrase of useful thought #1:

“…explore daily what [you] can do to move the life [you] have closer to the life that [you] want…”

To begin with, this is a useful focus for one’s morning pages, and I suspect that this fact is no accident. Additionally, in project management terms, this is called gap analysis.

In classic, simplified gap analysis, we first make an accurate and objective (key requirements, those) assessment of where we are now. Next we draft a realistic and achievable (more key words) statement of where we want to be. Last (and it’s important to do this part last), we list the clear and measurable (two more important qualifiers) steps required to get us from where we are to where we want to be. Afterwards, all that is left is following the steps.

Upon reflection, it strikes me that a number of Cameron’s exercises are aimed precisely at guiding the reader through a gap analysis for the writing life. She writes exercises to help you understand who you are and what obstacles plague you. Next there are exercises aimed at showing you the life you hope to have. And she includes at least one daily exercise (morning pages) for clearing your head, reflecting on your next steps, and taking at least the one step that must be part of anyone’s plan for getting from A to B; namely, writing.

In its classic form, however, meeting the qualitative requirements when drafting the three components of the gap analysis (Where are we at? Where are we headed? What's the gap?) are what really makes your plan into something more than just a curious exercise.

For instance, an accurate and objective assessment of our current writing life takes a form similar to “I write at least one page 3x per week, and I read approximately 30 pages of writing instruction per week.” While a statement like, “I write” or “I write a lot” is neither accurate nor objective, because it is not measurable.

Similarly, a realistic statement of where we want to be as writers cannot read “I want to complete my first novel next week”; especially if we’ve written precisely 50 words so far. Also unacceptable: “I want to write 5 novels next year” or the like.

As for crossing the gap, "clear and measurable steps" translates into statements like, “I want to write for at least 1 hour, 5 days per week, at least 3 weeks per month for 6 months” or “I want to write 50 draft pages on my novel each month.” Not, “I want to write more than I’m writing now,” or “Read more writing books.” Again, not measurable.

The steps across the gap from A to B should also include milestones. These are achievement points that are not tasks themselves, but indicate a point of progress in which we may take pride. For example, “Completed 1st draft” or “Read all three grammar books” are both decent milestones.

I’d like to add one more qualitative requirement for our plan to cross the gap: whatever steps we choose -- for getting from where we are to where we want to be as writers -- must resist backsliding. Our steps must be sustainable as ongoing habits.

It does no good to add a new habit (a step) to our lives one month, only to give it up the next. If “Write 1 page of anything, every morning, at least 5 days a week” is step one in forging a new writing life, then that step needs to be a commitment for which our lives have long term, even permanent, room.

That said, I still feel we could do worse than use Cameron’s The Right to Write to draft a gap analysis of our writing life. Start by accurately and objectively defining where you are (Point A). Next, define an achievable and realistic goal (Point B). Lastly, list clear, measurable and sustainable steps (tasks you must accomplish) that take you from Point A to Point B. All tasks (new habits, realy) need specific timeframes, so you can state with certainty when you've accomplished them.

As long as our plan includes actual writing, I think gap analysis can help us improve our writing habits.

Good luck, write on, and never look back!

Course Update #1

2006-12-13T14:30:00.000-05:00

Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction

Phase:1, Month:4, Week:2

I'm writing to notify you that I've updated the Course. The latest version (Version 5) includes the following changes:

1. Increased focus on your work, not just exercises in the Workshop
2. Re-shuffled time and order of grammar readings. One grammar textbook dropped.
3. Added Phase Notes for Phase I
4. Added Course Description text to PDF; previously, only on the web site
5. Added a new non-fiction entry to the Readings section

I've also made a few minor changes to the site:
1. Appended a site meter to the end of the site (despite my fear it will prove depressing - go me)
2. Added www.stormwolf.com and The Adventures of George W. Bush, Dungeon Master as Favorite Sites.

I feel the need to comment on the inspirational power of Michael A. Stackpole's The Secrets. Wonderful podcasts and newsletters that really opened my eye to the (should have been obvious) fact that I'd been led astray by all these books and exercises. Thanks, in large part, to The Secrets podcasts, I've returned completing a rough draft of your work to center stage in our course.

In fact, I was so motivated by a central notion in Stackpole's writing lectures -- not to edit as you go, but to always move forward -- that I'm seriously considering changing the title of this course to "Papercoach: Write and Don't Look Back."

I highly recommend The Secrets to all of you. Check them out at www.stormwolf.com.

- Lou