Title Image: Investments and Returns

Investments & Returns

Whenever I think of investments and, by extension, returns on investments, words like appreciation, capital, and risk usually come to mind. For most of my life, investments seemed a foreign concept. As someone who lives paycheck-to-paycheck, is perpetually broke, and can never seem to have more than a $13.00 balance in their checking account after… Read more »

Title Image: Five Ways to Capture Your Golden Butterfly

#5onFri: Five Ways to Capture Your Golden Butterfly

I’ve always believed that a story idea is a magical butterfly that flutters around and lands on the one person that has the magnificence—that perfect combination of experience, perspective, emotions, heart, mind, and desire—to bring the story to life in such a way that reflects the writer’s soul and captures the reader’s heart. If a… Read more »

Title Image: Inspiration for The Ice Swan

Inspiration for The Ice Swan

Toni Morrison once said, “If there’s a book you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” This is my absolute favorite quote about writing because it empowers me with the courage to try anything. It’s an awesome feeling, this surge of courage, but let us back up a… Read more »

Title Image: Improve the Clarity of Your Writing

Improve the Clarity of Your Writing

As writers, we spend a lot of time thinking about our story and our characters. We agonize over plot points and think about how to create heroes and heroines that our readers will love. We meticulously review the structure of our scenes, trying to keep our readers surprised and engaged. But we often skip right… Read more »

Title Image: Using Stand-up to Start Writing Humor

Using Stand-up to Start Writing Humor

My previous installments of my humor column are Writing Humor When You Don’t Think You’re Funny and On Writing Humor as a Funny Introvert. I promised you that I would share three simple ways for all writers (even introverts) to start writing humor. Next installment will talk about the history of humor writing, so stay… Read more »

Title Image: Focus on the Story, Not Word Count

Focus on the Story, Not Word Count

I hit a wall halfway through writing my debut novel. This is not unusual; as writers, this happens to most of us at one time or another. When I get blocked, it’s often only for a few days. I know all the tricks to fix the stoppered bottle of my brain: get outside, go for… Read more »

Title Image: Discovering Ekphrasis Poetry

Discovering Ekphrasis Poetry

Getting Too Personal So I don’t want to get too personal here but when I noodle around with my poetry—that’s exactly what I do. My first drafts are awkward, embarrassing, dripping with messy feelings. What comes out is the emotional equivalent of the sticky, oozy goo that comes out of the bottom of my car… Read more »

Title Image:Life of a Writer—Episode 2: The Unthinkable

Life of a Writer—Episode 2: The Unthinkable

In this column, Life of a Writer, every 8 weeks or so I will share the next episode in my journey as a middle-aged woman who finally gets serious about her dream of becoming a published author. This episode is about continuing on after the unthinkable happens. In Episode 1 of this column, I wrote… Read more »