“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” ― Toni Morrison
In my middle-school and high school days, I was a huge fan of bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco. Not only were the beats catchy and the lead singers ridiculously talented, the lyrics for the songs themselves were like puzzle-boxes to open. I spent an embarrassingly long time going over each… Continue reading I Stopped Caring About Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Post
I don't think it is unusual for creatives to experience dry spells. Especially those of us who work full-time jobs and can only create during those precious rare moments we have to ourselves. For me, however, the dry spells have become disconcertingly common, to the point where I wonder if this is my new normal.… Continue reading “F-It Bucket” Stories, or How I Got My Story-Writing Brain to Work Again
Writer's Block is easy enough to understand. Writer's Guilt, however, is a bit different. Writer's Block passes—sometimes like a kidney stone, but it passes. But Writer's Guilt lingers. At least it does for me. Writer's Guilt is when you, as a writer, find yourself in a rare moment of calm, of relaxation, of repose, but… Continue reading Writer’s Guilt: You Should Be Writing….or Should You?
I think it's no secret to anyone that has followed this blog for any length of time that I am not always the best at updating.....ever. While, on occasion, I'm seized by the writing bug and punch out a couple of blog posts a month, other times I do well to publish one in six… Continue reading Blog Update, Or The Author Details Her Intentions
I have been trying to pin down exactly what has contributed to my lack of productivity in the last few months in terms of my WIPs. While I have been relatively consistent with posting on this blog over the intervening months, I have not been nearly so diligent about making sure I am devoting time… Continue reading Writing Isn’t Safe
Now that we've shucked off our ugly Christmas sweaters and vacuumed up all the tinsel, it's time to create unattainable goals for ourselves! We do this pretty much every single year, or-- if you're like me-- you've pretended to not come up with resolutions so that you aren't disappointed by your inevitable failure. However, now… Continue reading Books, Writing, and Other Goals for 2020
A special thanks to theorangutanlibrarian for nominating me for this award! I'm honored to be receiving it and I enjoyed making this post! Here goes! Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link back to their blogging site. Answer the questions. Nominate 11 other bloggers and ask them 11 new questions. Notify the… Continue reading Sunshine Blogger Award #5
Last week I wrote a post about Mary Sues and why people write them. Today, I want to give you some unsolicited pointers on how to avoid writing a Mary Sue, or even a Gary Stu (the male equivalent). Enjoy! Start with a real person. While it may not be a good idea to base a… Continue reading How to Mary Sue Proof Your Characters
A few years ago, my novel writing class had a high-profile guest speaker talk to us: the award-winning author of a YA book we had been assigned to read about a week prior. I was pretty jazzed about it considering how much I'd enjoyed the story. I've had predominately good experiences with meeting published authors… Continue reading When a Writer You Admire is a Jerk
When you decide to become a writer, there's one truth that you must confront at some point: what you write will probably not be as good on paper as it was in your head. I've come to realize this after multiple drafts and constant rewrites of fiction, nonfiction, blog posts and etc. I know it's… Continue reading If You Want To Be a Writer, Lower Your Expectations a Lot
The Crooked Pen 