How to Think (and Write) Like Leonardo da Vinci, Part V: Arte/Scienza
Writing is a delicate balance of “Art and Science.” Or rather, imagination and analytical thinking. The trick is to find the right balance, and to know when to apply the art, and when to apply the science. It requires using our whole brain - in the right way, at the right time.
How to Think (and Write) Like Leonardo da Vinci, Part IV: Sfumato
What the heck is sfumato, you may ask? It can be variously translated as “smoked,” or “going up in smoke,” or “fading away.”
So what does it have to do with writing?
How to Think (and Write) Like Leonardo da Vinci, Part III: Sensazione
Try this:
Where are you right now?
What do you see around you?
What can you hear?
What can you smell?
Is there any sense of taste in your mouth?
What do you feel in your body? (the seat below you, the floor, the air wafting by…)
How to Think (and Write) Like Leonardo da Vinci, Part II: Dimostrazione
“Dimostrazione: A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.”
This is the definition of Dimostrazione, the next da Vinci principle. It can be translated as “demonstration,” “proof,” or “evidence.”
At first glance, you may wonder how this applies to writers. To which I would say:
How to Think (and Write) Like Leonardo da Vinci, Part I: Curiosità
Like many people, I’ve long been fascinated by Leonardo da Vinci. His insatiable curiosity, passion, creativity, experimentation, and the incredible art he’s left us all speak to his genius in a wide array of endeavors. If you haven’t read Walter Isaacson’s brilliant biography, Leonardo da Vinci, I highly recommend it.
Michael J. Gelb’s How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day, is a mini-biography and workbook, outlining seven steps he sees as the key to da Vinci’s creativity:
The Best Books I’ve Read So Far in 2026
It’s time for my semi-annual roundup of what I’ve read and recommend this year. I’ve read 28 books so far, which is about average for me. Though I’m not someone who really cares about quantity of books - I don’t get the point of people who, say, try to reach a goal of 100 books per year, or whatever. I’m glad they’re reading, but it’s not a race.
How to Reread Before You Revise
I’ve written before about how to do a deep revision, the kind that actually improves your manuscript instead of just doing line edits and proofreading (see Red Light issues, Yellow Light issues, and Green Light Issues).
I always say Step One is to reread your manuscript, but until today I’ve never mentioned how to do that effectively.
Why You Should Write the Query Before You Write the Book
I follow various agents on Substack, as well as on other social media, because they usually have good advice not just about what they are looking for, but about the publishing industry as well.
Since they see so many queries - and so many that don’t work - I pay special attention when they talk about query letters.
The Real Cause of Procrastination - and What You Can Do About It
Most writers procrastinate at some point or other. (I’m tempted to say all writers, but I try to stay away from absolutes).
Sometimes we go a day or two. Or weeks, or months, without writing. The longer we procrastinate, the harder it is to get back into it. We’ve not only lost the spark, we’re not even sure where to start.
We beat ourselves up. We promise we will definitely, for sure, write tomorrow.
How to Show Don’t Tell by Going Deeper with Adjectives
“Show, don’t tell,” is a frequently-misunderstood adage in writing. What it boils down to is, “how to make the story more interesting and immersive for the reader.”
It’s especially important to show who a character is, as opposed to telling us.
Is Deliberate Practice Good for Writers?
What do I mean by deliberate practice? I mean the skills that go into writing: dialogue, setting, character building, elegant description, showing emotion, scene development, and so on. It might be copying passages from a particular book to break down how the author did what they did on the page.
How to Develop a Powerful Writing Mindset
Most of us have heard by now about the power of having a positive, growth-oriented mindset. But if you are a writer, it can be very difficult to maintain this ideal. Most of what we’re doing is alone in a room, with no idea whether we’ll reach an audience or not. We endure tons of rejection. If we do publish, we risk our work being ignored or harshly criticized.
The Pros and Cons of Publishing with a Small Press
I just signed my first book contract. It feels surreal to say it. This day has been a long time coming. It’s with a small press, Gemma Media.
I am very happy about this, for many reasons. For one, it’s a lifelong dream fulfilled. For another, I really believe in the mission of this press. And yet another, I’m in some amazing company in terms of fellow writers who’ve been published by this press.
My Thoughts on Using AI in Writing
Don’t. I assure you, you will not be “left behind” if you forswear it. You will see authors who churn out 100 books a month in predictable genres earning six figures, and if that’s really what you want to do, and readers really don’t care, then <shrug>. But you are not a writer, in that case. You are simply an AI prompter.
How to Write a Killer Query Letter in 2026
The first thing to understand is what a query does: Sell your book! Agents receive hundreds of queries per week. 1,000 per month is not unusual. As you can imagine, agents are skimming a lot. Something needs to grab them right away. It does you no good to have a fantastic story but a dull, pedestrian cover letter that fails to convey anything compelling.
How to Create a DIY Reading Retreat
This past weekend, I attended a Reading Retreat sponsored by Golden Bee Bookshop, my local fave. It reminds me of the left-progressive indies of the Boston area that I miss. I’ve attended silent reading groups and write-ins there, I order books from them… and when this retreat came up, I jumped to join. Partly because, well, it’s a retreat where the only thing you have to do is read all day; and also because it took place where I attended summer camp from ages 8-12. Nostalgia trip!
No Time to Write? Conduct a Time Audit
One of the biggest complaints most writers have is that they have no time to write. This is understandable; in our daily, packed lives it can be difficult to get as much time as we’d like to write. Some of us manage a little bit every day, while wondering how to squeeze out more since our projects seem to be taking forever. Others look at their lives and think, “Well, 15 minutes to write must be nice!”
There are many reasons why we feel time-crunched, and the actual amount of hours in the day is only one part of the story. Although we may be able to squeeze in 15 minutes to write, it often takes a few minutes just to settle in and remember what we were working on. Or, we have some time, but we’re too physically or mentally exhausted to do anything like writing that takes mental energy.
It takes two things to have a regular writing practice: Priority and Intention.
10 Questions to Enhance Your Character Relationships
Recently I was reading a novel where the characters were flat. They talked, they did stuff, but aside from the opening scene (which was pretty compelling), they seemed to be cardboard people propelled around for the sake of the plot.
How to Avoid Pronoun Overload
We’re always told to write our characters with interiority. And it’s true, readers need to know a character’s thoughts. In most cases, at least in modern fiction, readers want to be inside the character’s head, knowing what they know, feeling what they feel.
The Case for Freewriting as Essential Practice
I was introduced to freewriting as a practice by Natalie Goldberg, in her seminal book, Writing Down the Bones. As someone who struggled to actually sit down and write, it was eye-opening to think that I didn’t need to have an idea, a scene, or a purpose in mind, other than just… writing, and seeing what came up.