When I began writing this blog, I did it because I wanted to muse. Aloud. Like if Juliet in her balcony scene was a vaguely neurotic mystic — “Oh Romeo, have you ever considered that words shape our destiny?” (I would consider casting Felicia Day, perpetual Manic Pixie Dream Girl, in the movie role.)

Then I realized that I wanted to demystify being a writer. For years, I’ve tried to demystify being a professor to my students, because colleges will run out of professors if students think we’re all like the enigmatic and magnificent Dumbledore. It was easy demystifying professorship, because I am neither enigmatic and magnificent. If I am like anyone at Hogwarts, it’s Sybil Trelawney — eccentric, a little unkempt, and seemingly absent-minded. (For my international readers — Harry Potter references).

Writers cultivate a certain amount of mystery, with their specialized language (plot twist, plot bunny, query, Marty Stu, McGuffin), their rituals (coffee, lucky pen, writers’ retreat) and their bizarre actions (killing their darlings, writing their friends into a story, talking about their characters as if they’re real people). There’s really no mystery here if you can see the world through a writers’ eyes. This is what I hope to do in this blog — help you see through the eyes of a writer even if the writer is writing through down times, lack of inspiration, and not enough coffee.

And then maybe I will get published someday, and you can celebrate with me.