Layer Cake: Writing Historical Fiction

Dateline: Budapest. Inspired by a recently discovered fresco in Pompeii depicting a delectable flatbread on a platter with a large goblet of red wine, a Budapest pizzeria crafted a pie using only ingredients that would have been available in ancient Rome. Although it wasn’t until the 1800s that the city of Naples introduced a street food of tomatoes, cheese, and herbs baked on a thin crust of leavened bread, Titus Caesar in his 79 A.D. toga could have eaten focaccia topped with nuts, savory sauce, dried fruit, herbs. More French Laundry than Dominos.
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/04/20/layer-cake-writing-historical-fiction/

#CRAFT #Inspirations #adviceforwriters #inspiration #writinglife

Overlooked Tools

I moved recently. My new place is great. It’s all set up, but that took some doing. Unpacking. Arranging. Assembling some flat-pack furniture. Hanging pictures and art. Naturally, I needed tools.
What surprised me were which tools were the most needed. Like many, I have a toolbox. I’ve collected quite a few over the years. Chisels. Scrapers. Wire strippers. Plumber’s wrench. Vice grips. The workhorse tools in the box would be screwdriver and hammer, you would think, and I did use those but not as much as a couple of others. I came to appreciate those overlooked tools.
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/04/01/overlooked-tools/

#CRAFT #adviceforwriters #DonaldMaass

Writing Retreats: What Showing Up Builds

…
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/03/25/writing-retreats-what-showing-up-builds/

#REALWORLD #adviceforwriters #inspiration #writinglife

New Perspectives at 14,000 Feet (and Falling Fast)

The photo above is real.
Yep, that’s me, having just leapt from a perfectly good airplane 14,000 feet over Whitewright, Texas on January 15 th , 2026. My thought at that moment: “Well, I’m out.”
That’s it.
No prayer for a working parachute.
No refrain of ‘I’m going to die.’
No screamed profanity. Or screaming at all.
After 52 years of being stuck in constant narration mode, the only thing my brain had to say about plunging toward the ground at 120mph was a simple acknowledgment that I had left the plane.
Neurodivergence is weird.
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/03/23/new-perspectives-at-14000-feet-and-falling-fast/

#REALWORLD #Writinglife #adviceforwriters #fear #KimBullock

Lessons from hiring the wrong editor – and how to find the right match. Honest advice after the Indie Author Lab

A developmental editor is usually the first professional to see your book. Ideally they’ll help you nurture its strengths, tone up its weaknesses, get you writing your best work. But finding that person can be a minefield. This week I was one of the resident experts at the Alliance of Independent Authors Indie Author… Continue reading Lessons from hiring the wrong editor – and how to find the right match. Honest advice after the Indie Author Lab…
https://nailyournovel.wordpress.com/2026/03/15/lessons-from-hiring-the-wrong-editor-and-how-to-find-the-right-match-honest-advice-after-the-indie-author-lab/

#Howtowriteabook #adviceforwriters #adviceonselfpublishing #authorlife #books

My Brain is Not My Friend Right Now: the Challenges of Working with a Quirky Brain

I was in tears. Again.
I was tired of tears. I was pretty sure my husband was, too.
The problem is, tears are pretty standard for me, as an autistic woman (not for every autistic woman, but definitely for me). Masking; walking in a world that is usually overstimulating in multiple ways, just by virtue of being the world ; trying to communicate “normally” and read between lines I can hardly see sometimes…it all makes for a perpetual feeling of being lost/left out/left behind/left alone to handle what I’m handling.
That’s only a tiny piece of being a writer with a “quirky” brain.
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/03/11/my-brain-is-not-my-friend-right-now-the-challenges-of-working-with-a-quirky-brain/

#REALWORLD #Writinglife #adviceforwriters #neurodivergentwriter #neurodiversity

Reading as an Agent

Two very recent WU posts ( HERE and HERE ) got me thinking about how I read. In one mode, I read manuscripts with an agent’s eyes. In another mode, I read novels (published or pre-) as a craft analyst and teacher. In still a different mode, I read as a fiction writer.
Once in a while, I read for enjoyment. It’s difficult to do. The other modes don’t like to shut up. And not all novels are so absorbing that my inner analyst forgets to analyze.
As agent, you might imagine that I am looking for work that matches the market’s needs. As craft analyst and teacher, you might think that I am looking for illustrative examples. As fiction writer, you might expect that that I read in awe, envy, or judgment.
In those presumptions, you would be wrong.
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/03/04/reading-as-an-agent/

#CRAFT #adviceforwriters #characters #DonaldMaass #inspiration

Not Simon & Schuster: Deconstructing an Impersonation Scam

For writers chasing a traditional publishing contract, an email from Big 5 publisher Simon & Schuster inviting submission might seem like a dream come true.

J…
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/02/27/not-simon-schuster-deconstructing-an-impersonation-scam/

#ArtificialIntelligence #REALWORLD #traditionalpublishing #adviceforwriters #scams

Let’s Be Clear, Period

Lynne Truss, the respected author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves , once said: “There are people who embrace the Oxford comma, and people who don’t, and I’ll just say this: never get between these people when drink has been taken.”
I hope you’re all sober because we’re going to get into this.
Let me start with a meme that has become popular on social media.
We invited two strippers, JFK and Stalin.
Does this sentence refer to four people in total or are JFK and Stalin about to get naked?
It’s difficult to be sure when it’s written like that.
But if you read:
We invited two strippers, JFK, and Stalin.
Here, you could be pretty sure there are four people. Pretty sure. But you could still have some doubts.
If you got rid of the bad writing and read:…
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/02/18/lets-be-clear-period/

#Editing #Fictiontherapy #adviceforwriters #CRAFT #editing

In the Beginning

It’s February, we’re on day 5,392 of snow/bitter cold/ice/biting wind (let’s not even get into politics), and all I want to do is lose myself in reading a great book. And yet I have picked up and put down three different books without getting sucked into any of them. Is it my current frame of mind, or is it the books?
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/02/11/in-the-beginning-3/

#CRAFT #REALWORLD #adviceforwriters #KathleenMcCleary #novelopenings