—Life Through the Eyes of Storytellers—
And what happened to me? You probably didn’t notice (what with the world going upside down and all), but I haven’t been around. I had been disheartened for a while with blogging . . . and then 2020 happened and I truly grasped the meaning of being disheartened. It is bananas out there. I don’t… Continue reading What Happened to Blogging?
"Of all human activities, creativity comes closest to providing the fulfillment we all hope to get in our lives." – M. Csikszentmihalyi The thought that creativity can bring fulfillment is lovely, isn’t it? And I believe it’s true . . . as strongly as I believe it’s that easy AND that hard. Where does creativity… Continue reading What Makes You a Creative Writer?
Have you ever trusted the wrong person? Ate that third slice of pizza you shouldn’t have? Or just simply overcomplicated a thing because it seemed like the right thing to do? Yes? Then you know what I’m talking about. You live and learn, right? And don’t pretend you’ve never been there! Nobody likes a show-off… Continue reading Mistakes I’ve Made
So here's the dirty truth about being a writer . . . A writer who is a mom that is. Or rather a mom who is a writer. Because no matter how much I try to ignore my 6-year-old twins, it turns out I can't escape them. Not even if I hide in the bathroom to… Continue reading The Dirty Truth About Being A Writer
You know how my writing process works? Via miracles. Seriously. I'm a pantser so when an idea hits me, I sit down to write, and I wing it. If I start trying to figure out the plot, structure, or the why of things I stress out and confuse myself. Once it’s written, then I… Continue reading My Writing Quirks
"I was afraid that by observing objects with my eyes and trying to comprehend them with each of my senses I might blind my soul altogether." —Socrates I say let's blind our readers' souls with our stories! What? Seems legit to me. *shrugs* As an author, your job is to transport your reader into the… Continue reading Using the Five Senses in Fiction, Part Two: Smell, Touch, & Taste
Good writing is like enjoying a hot cup of chocolate on a snowy morning. It activates all your senses: sight, smell, touch, taste buds, and even sound. I was going to say it’s like sex, but this is a daytime gig, and my mommy reads this, so . . . hot chocolate anyone? 😛 As… Continue reading Using the Five Senses in Fiction, Part One: Sight & Sound
“Every dream, every possibility, and every journey –real or imagined - begins with two words, “what if…” You know, I’m only here so we could talk. So pull up a chair and sit down because we have much to discuss. “What?” you ask. Well, everything really. Hopes, dreams, the things we want, those we can’t… Continue reading Deleting the Best Part of You
You know how my writing process works? Via miracles. Seriously. I'm a pantser so when an idea hits me, I sit down to write, and I wing it. If I start trying to figure out the plot, structure, or the why of things I stress out and confuse myself. Once it’s written, then I… Continue reading My Writing Quirks
They say you should write what you know. For many writers, dare I say most, the genre they write in is the one that inspired them to become a writer. For me, that is dark fiction. My mother was a fan of horror movies, and I had early exposure to the Universal Classics, Twilight Zone,… Continue reading Is the Shape of Your Brain Responsible for Your Genre Selection?
Productivity is a cultural obsession. You can’t toss a virtual rock without hitting an article or App that “helps improve productivity.” Indeed, we want to maximize our efficiency, and we’d all love to get more done, but for creative endeavors, such as writing, much of the productivity advice works against you. That is, trying to… Continue reading Productivity Tips Make You An Unproductive Writer
Being a writer means your brain didn’t come with an on/off switch—it came with a dial. We can turn it down, we can turn it up but we can never shut off the creativity. In fact, because our ideas come from all the things around us, we never really stop working. We collect, we sort,… Continue reading 10 Ways Writers Are Always Working
Stay with me! . . . Beyond the screaming crowd and motors roaring, all the driver hears is the continuous pump of his heart. A flash of green catches his eyes, fueling his senses, as he slams on the gas pedal. From zero to a hundred in less than six seconds, he's immersed in the… Continue reading The Mind of a Writer
How do writers find time to write? Given the opportunity, we’d allow writing to consume our world. Deadlines, plots, and ideas would overtake us, and we’d live in fantasyland while blissfully ignoring reality. But apparently, that’s frowned upon, so we live the other way around. We end up abandoning our written worlds to attend our… Continue reading Finding a Writing Routine That Works for You
As writers, we’re always told to show and not tell . . . So in the spirit of keeping it light and taking our own advice of laughing more, we’re sharing a few of our top lessons learned this year in a five-minute video. If that’s not showing, I don’t know what is! 😉 https://youtu.be/Nb84PngnMGc… Continue reading Top Lessons Learned in 2016
So here's the dirty truth about being a writer . . . A writer who is a mom that is. Or rather a mom who is a writer. Because no matter how much I try to ignore my 6-year-old twins, it turns out I can't escape them. Not even if I hide in the bathroom to… Continue reading The Dirty Truth About Being A Writer
Personally, I like thinking I can organize every single detail of my writing. I love the idea of outlining. I love the idea of knowing exactly which word to place in front of another. Realistically, I'm a big fail on that. First, because I'm a pantser. Second, because no matter what, writing can be a… Continue reading Writing is Messy
No matter what is happening in a writer’s life, the one thing you can count on is we always have an idea for a story. It may be the tiniest of seeds, but we know we can water it and have it grow into something quite magical. The problem, however, is that we usually have… Continue reading Brainstorming Strategies for Writers
So, you wanna write a novel? That's fantastic. You should! There's a reader out there who cannot wait to read what you have brewing inside that head of yours. Heck, I'm interested in your book. Storytellers are naturally intrigued by the many possibilities that our creative peers have to offer. And because of this, we're… Continue reading 3 Storytelling Mistakes to Avoid
We’ve all heard the saying: “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” and of course, I agree that you shouldn’t judge people by their appearances alone. But should this idiom apply to actual books? As a book cover junkie, I usually pick up a book based on the cover, read the synopsis and go from… Continue reading 5 Reasons Book Covers Can Make or Break Authors
By Raymond Esposito Non-writers don’t understand. I don’t expect them to, what with all their activities, and errands, and family time--most taking place in that overly “people-ly” world. That world without dragons, without princesses, without grand love stories, creepy monsters, or superpowers. If they lived in “our” world, then they would appreciate that procrastination is… Continue reading Procrastination IS Creativity
Writers After Dark 