It’s October, and that means Halloween is coming! In that spirit, this month’s writing exercise is to pick a costume—write in disguise!

If you’ve ever despaired over where to put commas or felt guilty about accidentally misplacing an apostrophe, you need this book. If you climb up onto your high horse when you spot “incorrect” capitalization or split infinitives in others’ work, you also need this book.

Most of us love writing with the metaphorical windows open. Sometimes, though, we’ve got to close them. Knowing how to manage our open attention is part of the job of being a writer.

By comparing our life to well-known stories, we can see narrative structures and story arcs that might otherwise escape us. This might just open up new ways of creating the narratives of our lives, or expand our storytelling skills.

Writing for me sometimes feels like herding a bunch of goats into a likely area, and then letting them forage. It’s a little messy and imprecise. The results may be a little ragged. But it’s also fun to see what happens.