The Writer’s Scrap Bin

Welcome, readers and writers! On The Writer’s Scrap Bin you’ll find a variety of distractions and support, from blog posts on “The Bin” and reviews in “The Slush Pile” to writing resources and services I offer my fellow writers.

Kick off your shoes, stay a while, and dive into The Writer’s Scrap Bin!

Featured Book

Hidden from Our Eyes by James Fisher

The main antagonist is not some wicked ruler utilizing black magic or an evil corporation and/or alien race controlling our every move but a mysterious force akin to fate keeping Tom trapped in this new world. There is action involved in the scouting and ship scenes as well as plenty of emotional tension, but the story isn’t for action-lovers. Instead, it’s speculative fiction more aimed at thinkers and those focused on character and world development.

Featured Article

My Second Published Story

My second published story, “Beautiful Dreamer,” has been released through the Sick Cruising anthology, published by Notch Publishing House. Escape the horrific reality of COVID-19 on the luxurious cruise ship, the All Powerful. Explore the horrors of COVID-21. Red Lungs. The Dreaming Disease. In “Beautiful Dreamer,” join Ava Nelson, Gregor Nelson, and Jayden Casseus as they dive into alcohol, sex, and joviality to run from their problems…until they can run no more. Death’s scythe is only a dream away.

Featured Writing Advice

Yiyun Li


Writing fiction is this kind of staring, too. You have to stare at your characters, like you would a stranger on the train, but for much longer than is comfortable for both of you. This way, you get to know characters layer by layer, until any dishonesty is stripped away.

Yiyun Li is an award-winning, Chinese American writer best known for short story collections such as A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and her novel The Vagrants. Take a look at her fascinating view on watching and developing characters. Should we get to know them like we would real people? Can they lie to us about their pasts? If so, how can we learn and write the “true” story?


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011