HeyJaredWriter on the Edge
One 60-something engineer's honest journey into fiction writing. No guru BS, just weekly insights on starting late, experimenting with AI tools, and figuring out this writing thing in public.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 12
- Latest publication
- Sep 27, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 12, 2026
Latest issues
Character Is Everything (opens the original)
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Progress is slow at the moment, but it’s still progress.After the revelations of writing my first book, I’ve come back around to what every other author says: character is the most important part of any novel, any fiction at all. Without character, you have nothing. A flat, boring story that nobody’s impressed by and nobody reads.Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.<form class="subscription-widget
Two Unfinished Novels (opens the original)
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I had a great conversation yesterday. Actually, it was the latest episode of a much longer conversation that started several months ago. And in a way it’s frustrating. In another way, it’s exciting. More exciting than frustrating, fortunately. Let me back up.Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.<input class="butt
No More Excuses (opens the original)
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Not a very productive week, I’m afraid.After a beautiful weekend, an unexpectedly pleasant one at the beach house in Hoek van Holland, things went downhill on the drive back home on Monday. I started to feel off; fortunately, my wife was driving, and I was in the back with the dogs, trying to keep them calm.Monday night it really hit. A terrible head cold. By Tuesday, my nose was running like a river, though it seemed to be over almost before it started, which was fortunate.<div class="
Talking to My Protagonist (opens the original)
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<img alt="A vivid pink and orange sunset over the beach at Hook of Holland, with silhouetted figures near the shoreline and wind turbines stretching along the horizon." class="sizing-normal" height="1092" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!GltR!,w_1456,c_limit,f
A Passive Protagonist Problem (opens the original)
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They say time waits for no man, and they’re absolutely right. Time just goes on at its own pace. Relatively speaking.I’m sixty-six now, and mentally I feel as sharp as I’ve always been. But I do notice a lack of focus creeping in, and that’s irritating. Age has more of an impact on us than we’d like.Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.<input
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