writing · 23. June 2023
My favorite book about being a creative person (that I've read so far, anyway), is Coaching the Artist Within by Eric Maisel. It's almost 25 years old, which makes me feel ancient, but the perspective in here in pretty timeless, and ever since I read this book fresh out of college, I haven't had writer's block since. I'm serious, I haven't. Maisel gets to the heart of most writer's block, which is the underlying feeling that what you are doing doesn't matter. If you don't have the greatest...
31. December 2020
Post-Christmas depression is real-- no more festive lights or decorations, nothing to look forward to besides the endless, cold winter. In the Age of the Virus, this has never been more true! It got me thinking, why do we only celebrate New Years on one night? Why can't the whole month of January be festive too, in honor of better things to come in the year ahead? Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce to you, GLAMUARY. Purpose: Celebrate a new year and value yourself. Fight off encroaching...
26. October 2020
In honor of the third book of the Layna series debuting soon and the endless plague times we find ourselves in, I thought it would be appropriate to explore a topic that touches both: time travel. While I'm not going to spoil the third book by explaining how that concept relates, in terms of the times we're in, I think we are all nostalgic to exist ... elsewhere. I've always been a nostalgic person. (When I was in first grade, I longed for the easy days of preschool.) But now I find myself...
26. April 2020
Sometimes, I get an idea for a story, and then I think, "Man, I hope no one else writes this because I really want to!" That happened to me today, but then I immediately had another feeling: "Actually...I would love to see what different people would do with this." What would you do with this premise? We're fifty years into the future, and plagues, unfortunately, keep happening. You could throw some natural disasters and wars in there too if you'd like. Basically, things get worse. (I...
04. April 2020
In my mid-twenties, I had a really hard time falling asleep. Remember Paranormal Activity where the little girl just stands by her parents’ bed for hours? I reminded myself of this girl, when, on more than one occasion after hearing strange noises, I walked downstairs in the pitch dark, stood in a corner with my hair in front of my face, and just listened. I'm sure I looked terrifying. Now that we are all living in a literal Contagion movie, I’m sure even the best sleepers are having...
31. July 2019
When I think of required reading, I think of horribly boring books that I was forced to read, usually about white dudes, written by white dudes. But some books from my high school days did pleasantly surprise me. I couldn't put own The Catcher in the Rye, I related to Ordinary People, and I loved the language used in The Scarlett Letter. Still, it's hard for me not to be salty about those books that are "high school famous" and don't deserve it. Two books stick out for me that--if I were the...
14. May 2019
I originally wanted to have a post about the "best" and "worst" endings but immediately felt irritated because that's subjective and hard. (The best and worst ever?) Then I started thinking about how some endings leave you feeling bad and others leave you feeling good even if the majority of the content doesn't make you scream "BEST SHOW EVER" or "WORST BOOK EVER!" So instead, I want to know what endings left you feeling on the up and what left you feeling on the down. I've got my picks...
memories · 09. February 2019
The book store experience is just different these days. I love ebooks and being able to order literally anything online, but something is lost when you no longer have to physically go to a place to get something new to read. In my family, going to the bookstore was an event, one of our favorite weekend pastimes. The two book stores that I miss the most technically still exist. Dad used to take us to Triple Goddess, a new age joint that sat across from our hair salon. I loved the chakra...
writing prompts · 19. January 2019
I don't buy it when people say they want to write but have "writer's block." Someone once said that if you want to write, you have ideas. It's just a matter of drawing them out. And what's better than Mad Libs to get things going? Okay, maybe many things are better, but sparking creativity is sparking creativity, and plus, I like it when my friends make me laugh! Write down your answer for each, and don't look ahead! 1) The first syllable of your city plus either an "ie" or "en." 2) The gender...
31. July 2018
One of my favorite things to do here is to ask you guys questions, because I love hearing your answers. Only, no one ever wants to comment on the actual blog...it's fine, really. Not irritating at all....Anyhow, I went back to Facebook and picked some of my favorite answers of yours to share. The first is your personal (comedic) hell: