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...

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The Case for Vulnerability

I recently had a couple of good friends describe me as “really upbeat and optimistic.” Which is awesome and all, but I couldn’t help myself from thinking… Really? I try my best to be a cheerful person—it’s something my parents emphasized the heck out of when I was...

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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...

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BusyBusyBusy

Do you ever hear a song that just speaks to your soul? One of those tunes that gets stuck in your head for days on end, because whoever wrote it is clearly some parallel universe version of you? Like, a song that captures exactly how you’re feeling? For me, this song...

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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...

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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....

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Writing Music

As in the act of composing music? Nope! This is all about music you can write to. Some people hate writing to music; others can’t write without their earbuds in. I fall somewhere in between. I compile huge playlists that I brainstorm and outline to, but when it comes...

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