I can’t give you an attribution for “skeery bits”. A reader used it in a chat I attended a year or two ago, as in “I’m reading Book X more slowly, even though it’s really good, because I’ve gotten to the skeery bits.” I love that expression, even though I forget who said it, and…

The brain is an incredible machine, but one that (unfortunately) doesn’t come with a user’s manual. We have to figure out things for ourselves. Here’s a neat brain trick that maybe you don’t know. It’s useful for problem solving. When you’re trying to solve a problem or a riddle or come up with a creative…

I can never figure this out: no matter how many times I write a book and no matter how steadily I work away at that book, I invariably realize in the last 48 hours before delivery that there is far too much left to be written in the time available. I always have this frantic…

How long has it been since you’ve tried something new? We all establish habits and routines, and get used to doing things a certain way. This gives order to our lives and helps us be disciplined about getting things done. It keeps us organized. Maybe it keeps us sane. It also can keep us from…