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Dreaded Center is the internet home of Joe Heaney, a Twin Cities-based writer. Thanks for stopping by and reading. If you’d like to be updated about future posts, please subscribe!

Writing with the Pomodoro Technique

August 11, 2019August 11, 2019 by Joe Heaney

I used to spend a lot of time stressing about my weekly word count on my current WIP because that’s how first drafts get done, right? Cram 10,000 words into a week and you’ll surely finish the book in no time. Ten weeks and it’s a wrap says the math. My habit was to look … Continue reading Writing with the Pomodoro Technique

Trying Something New: Shoe-boxing

August 4, 2019August 4, 2019 by Joe Heaney

Story tellers are often gifted with a steady drip of new ideas that could become stories. The often discussed issue, of course, is when that drip of ideas starts to become a distraction from our current project. I love when often my brain fires off a concept that makes me think, ‘oh that’s interesting,’ but … Continue reading Trying Something New: Shoe-boxing

Participants Join in Following Pre-Joycean Fellowship’s Playfully Judicious Fervor for Popular, Jaunty Fiction: Narrativity Report Part 2

July 27, 2019July 27, 2019 by Joe Heaney

It’s Saturday, July 13th and I’m eating dinner with new friends at the India Palace in Plymouth, MN. We’re trying to hurry dinner along because we’ve all got to get back to the Crowne Plaza West for the “Pre-Joycean Fellowship Recruitment Panel.” It was the last and only panel for Narrativity’s second evening and it … Continue reading Participants Join in Following Pre-Joycean Fellowship’s Playfully Judicious Fervor for Popular, Jaunty Fiction: Narrativity Report Part 2

Oh THIS is what a con can be: Narrativity Report: Part 1

Featured by Joe Heaney

I’ve attended a few writing conventions in my life and come to the conclusion that they really weren’t for me. Some were too geared toward fandom for them to be what I wanted them to be, and those that were craft-oriented had been marred by a lack of focus and ended up unwieldy. Besides getting … Continue reading Oh THIS is what a con can be: Narrativity Report: Part 1