A B Tuell

Productivity

  • Find the Fun #16

    External pressure is one thing, but sometimes, even self-imposed pressure can become overwhelming. Perhaps I set the goal to respond to 60 writing prompts in 30 days, the month is half over, and I’m not even halfway to the goal.… Read more

  • Find the Fun #15

    What do you do when the sentences stop streaming, the plot ceases plodding ahead, the characters quit cooperating, enthusiasm takes an exit? Experiment #15: Pivot Work on something else. Write something new. Rewrite something old. Revise something. Edit something. Take… Read more

  • Momentum Swings

    My favorite piece of equipment on the playground as a kid had to be a swing. There was something about the predictable motion, the view of the world at the apex, and the independent experience that really grabbed me. I… Read more

  • Find the Fun #4

    In the day-to-day of working on a big project, it’s easy to get caught up in the big picture: the project isn’t finished. It probably won’t be done today, and probably not tomorrow, and probably not the day after that.… Read more

  • Credit Due

    If you’ve been with me for a minute, you know I love writing, and it brings me a lot of joy to do what I love. Currently, I’m juggling a number of different projects: a couple novels, some short stories,… Read more

  • Growth

    Throughout July, I often found myself reminiscing—and not just on the first half of 2026 (which is flying by me; how is it already August?). July’s blog posts took great inspiration from the past, and, looking back at this month,… Read more

  • Resisting Resistance

    Writing brings me a lot of joy. It’s one of my favorite activities. I love telling stories and exploring what could be. I love building effective, clear, precise, simple sentences. I love writing about writing. And yet, that doesn’t mean… Read more

  • Throughline

    The tricky part about calling anything “of the month” is that it creates the expectation that the months that follow will also get their own thing. My theme for January was about celebrating every accomplishment. In February, I was encouraged to just start,… Read more

  • Lessons Learned and Learning

    There are many things I wish I could have told my younger self years ago before she started the largest project she had ever completed on an immovable deadline. Back when I was working toward my MFA in Creative Writing,… Read more

  • Pivoting for Progress

    It’s hard to believe that the sun has already set on the 2025-2026 NHL season. Just a few weeks ago, I thought I’d be watching the Colorado Avalanche battling for the Cup this June. Instead, it’s the offseason, and the… Read more

  • Detours

    In my writing life, I have been keeping several plates spinning simultaneously: researching agents to query, looking for comp titles, searching for short story markets and contests, posting weekly on Instagram, writing blog posts, planning a short story, polishing one… Read more

  • Grace

    It’s that time again: time to choose a theme for the previous month. With every calendar page turn this year, I asked no one in particular how we can already be another month deeper into 2026. It seems like just… Read more

  • Magness North

    While other sports fans are keeping an eye on college basketball and the young MLB season, this writer is closely following hockey. Previously on Denver’s playoff run: the Pioneers defeated the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs in the NCHC championship game in 2OT,… Read more

  • Playing the Full 82ish Minutes

    There’s something surreal about going to a collegiate conference championship hockey game in March when it’s almost 90 degrees outside (and some years it could just as easily be in the 30s and snowing heavily). It’s a strange juxtaposition: unusually… Read more

  • Putting in the Work

    Going into Saturday night’s hockey game, Denver vs Western Michigan, I was nervously excited. I had no idea if it was going to be the last home game at Magness Arena for the Pioneers, but I had a glimmer of… Read more

  • The Rest of Intermission

    Last week, I saw something we haven’t seen a lot of in Denver this season: snow. This wasn’t just a dusting or one of those mucky Spring storms either—this was inches of the pretty stuff. Whenever I looked outside, the… Read more

  • The Second-Best Time

    When I was thinking about the theme of the month for February, I realized that one phrase kept popping up in my head throughout January and February. This phrase was on my mind when I was actively taking steps toward… Read more

  • Post-Conference Crash and Burnout

    When I got home from Superstars, I was tired. To be honest, I was tired before Superstars. In January, I had undertaken a series of challenges; in the span of about a month I rewrote a novel, bought a domain,… Read more

  • A Win is a Win

    I’d call it the theme of the day, the theme of last week—maybe my whole January. I came up with the theme of the month while watching both Pioneer hockey games the final weekend of the month (check the box… Read more