Writing Rhythm at Two Years: Looking Back

Issue #49

Jul 01, 2025

Pop the bubbly. This issue marks the second full year I’ve posted this newsletter 2X monthly.

In that time I’ve tried to offer quality educational and inspirational content on aspects of writing long fiction, utilizing my teaching skills and focusing on daily X (formerly Twitter) posts on writing as the centerpieces of each short, 2X monthly “issue.”

Writing Rhythm’s got tons of links, in case readers want to go deeper into the minutia of the writing life. During this past year, we’ve covered a lot of subjects, so let’s remember, shall we?

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

Looking Back

Here’s a shufti (an old British term, meaning a quick peek) at my issues from this second year, complete with links and descriptions.

25) Writing Rhythm at One Year: Looking Back— & Forward – Same kinda review we’re doing here, for the first 24 issues.

26) A Contest for Writers – The 2024 challenge for readers to write a story using as many Writing Rhythm vocabulary words as possible.

27) Family, Work & Friends: How to Carve Out Writing Time – Some tips on creating fiction and working a job…and while raising a family.

28) Family, Work & Friends: Dealing with Attitude on Your Writing – How to weather the storm when folks close to you are not supportive.

28.5) 2024 Writing Contest Winner – Announcement of the 2024 contest winner: Andy Futuro, plus his prizewinning entry in full.

29) Writer’s Groups: Definitions & Types – 1 of 4 on Writer’s Groups (WG); this one offers descriptions and variety of the WG out there.

30) Writer’s Groups: Positives—Why to Hook Up with One – 2 of 4: the benefits of WGs and why you might consider joining one.

31) Writer’s Groups: Negatives—When to Stay Away or Jump Ship – 3 of 4: drawbacks…or why to bail from or avoid WGs in the first place.

32) Writer's Groups: How to Pick or Form One – 4 of 4: A whole boatload of advice and links regarding setting yourself up with a WG.

33) Pre-writing Research: How Much Do You Really Need? – 1 of 3 on PWR: Why you’ll need to do some…and how to decide how much.

34) Pre-writing Research: The Gathering – 2 of 3 on PWR: how to actually get it together, and some tools that’ll help you.

35) Pre-writing Research: Organizing and Using It on the Page – 3 of 3 on PWR: how to categorize your facts, and two ways to use ’em.

36) Character Backstory: Yea or Nay? – 1 of 4 on BS: Why to consider writing one, while monitoring how much time you spend doing so.

37) Character Backstory: How to Write It – 2 of 4 on BS: some points and lists to shine a light on a character’s past.

38) Character Backstory: Motivation – 3 of 4 on BS: Going into your own backstory to see why people—real or fictional—do what they do.

39) Character Backstory: Sneaking It Gently Onto Your Pages – 4 of 4 on BS: avoiding info-dumps, drip-feeding, & taking care with dialogue.

40) The Importance of Character – On character being the rock star of the novel, and the baby steps to take when dreaming one up.

41) What Your Character Wants: The Ins and Outs – How external and internal motivation fits in with what they need vs. what they want.

42) The Three Ingredients of Story – 3 vital concepts: Goal, Motivation and Conflict, and how they work together within characters and plots.

43) Gathering the Parts to Create Characters – Assembling characters —human or otherwise—using links or Writing Rhythm for structure.

44) Creating A Character – Putting Meat on the Bones (PMOTB) #1: The few words describing a setting that fermented into a fiction story.

45) Mining the Backstory – PMOTB #2: How I searched out a plot in my basic ideas by adding to character backstory & working in conflict.

46) Letting A Character Tell his Story – PMOTB #3: How questioning the players shaped a narrative…plus, a look at length and POV.

47) The First…and Final Draft: A Comparison – PMOTB #4: See how a rough draft transforms from warty frog to publishable story.

48) A Letter for the Bayou – The story itself.

(For your convenience, notice I’ve included this information and more in an “Issue Index” addition to the Writing Rhythm navigation bar. I’m working on a “Subject Index” as well, and will announce it here when it’s live.)