My Book is a Real Thing™(!!!)

tl;dr: My book is a thing! It’s a thing you’re gonna get to read! Celebrate with me! Long version: When I was six, I decided I wanted to be an author. Not much has changed. Ahh, youth. When I was fourteen, I finished my first full length book. There were dragons and a...

read more

Thankful Thoughts and New Chapters

Thanksgiving was particularly timely this year. There is so much that I’m thankful for—health, family, friends—but I’m feeling especially grateful for the writing world as of late. I wrote my first full length novel when I was thirteen, and I was pretty sure it was...

read more

Kill Your Darlings

Oh, lovely blog. I've let you down. I missed the past few weeks of blog posts, thanks to a crazy hectic summer and a few too many hours in the editing den! Fortunately, I'm on the other side, feeling better than ever. It seems only fitting to post about one of my...

read more

Internal and External Motivation

Nothing drives a story like a determined character. But this is one of those things that’s easier to say than it is to actually incorporate into writing. I thought I understood what all these writerly types meant when they said to make a “strong, motivated” character....

read more

Writing a Critique

So you’ve completed step one (how to find a critique partner). You’ve brushed up on step two (critique partner etiquette). Now it’s time for step three: writing a critique. Whether you’re in a face-to-face workshop or just exchanging emails, I’ve found that the best...

read more

Sharing Your Writing

I have a confession to make. For a long time (like, years), I was bad at sharing my work. Really, really bad. How bad? By the time I was sixteen, I had three (admittedly subpar) novels under my belt, and my darling mother, the all-star cheerleader who has always...

read more