5 creative writing tips learned in a cubicle I used to write about RV toilets. Fresh out of college with a creative writing degree and full of idealism, I took a job at an advertising agency. I assumed it would be a temporary gig while I wrote and published my
Read MoreConfession: editing makes me grumpy. Or, at least according to my fourteen-year-old’s “accidental” Christmas gift to me. Okay, perhaps I need to back up and explain myself. Here’s what happened… First of all, I’ve come to know that I love deep work. I loathe distractions. This became even more evident
Read MoreI like to write quiet stories, focused on characters. Going in-depth into their perspectives. Exploring who they are at the core. What doesn’t come as naturally to me is a page-turning, edge-of-your-seat, keep-the-reader-up-all-night plot. The question is: does a book have to be compelling? In short: yes. As someone who
Read MoreIs time really on our side? I’ve been thinking a lot about lately, even in my fiction writing. In my current work in progress, the main character is a teenage girl who finds herself pregnant. While hiding her secret, one of her closest friends introduces her to a song by
Read MoreThrough high school and college, I spent a collective seven years studying French. Though I never became fluent, I appreciated how learning a new language helped me see my native language differently. For the first time, I understood what a preposition was. Sure, I had always passed my English grammar
Read MoreMy dad loved taking the scenic route. We could never call it a “short cut” because his deviations always took longer than the conventional ones. You see, as a lumberjack who worked all over the state of Indiana, he knew the backroads and cut throughs. Sometimes he diverted off the
Read MoreLast January, I received the following message from one (of the many!) literary agents I had queried: I finished reading over the holiday and loved your book! Thank you so much for sharing. Before I read again for editorial notes, I wanted to check in to make sure the manuscript
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