College Doesn’t Prepare You for the Post-Graduation Slump
But that doesn’t mean you won’t survive it. When I graduated college, I was on top of the world. I’d worked long and hard to finish my degree — late nights, insufferable classes, long hours at work and school — it was…
Abraham Lincoln
Flashback number one. The frigid air danced through the trees, making its way through my layers of clothing. Jean jacket, blue knit scarf, purple and gold striped sweater, dingy white tank top. None were a match for the nipping of…
Writing When You Don’t Want to Write
Sometimes even doing the thing you love seems like an impossible task. I love writing. If you’ve read any of my articles or found out anything about me on the internet, you’d know that. Writing is something that’s always been…
Jumpstart Your Creativity With Collaborative Writing
Sometimes writing with someone else is what you need to get back on track with your own writing. When I was in college studying creative writing, I was required to take classes outside of my chosen tract — fiction. At the time…
Writing Emotional Scenes
Emotions are hard to experience, much less convey in your writing. One of the hardest things we face as writers is conveying emotion. Using words to make someone feel — better yet, to make a reader understand your characters — is tricky. I’ve mentioned…
How to Find Your Voice
We all fall in love with the voice of our favorite authors, but how do you find your own? What is it that separates good writers from mediocre ones? How does one make themself stand out in the midst of…
I’ll Just Burn Brighter
Sometimes a song (or two) is all we have When I got the call, I was standing on the school shuttle, hand tied up in the strap overhead to keep myself from catapulting into the student in front of me.…
The Art of the Synopsis
Planning that even a pantser can use. So you’re writing a book. Or planning to write a book. Or you have an idea for a book to write one day, that for now sits in the back of your mind,…
Writing Good Villians
It might seem like an oxymoron, but even villains need to be good characters. So you’re writing a story. It might be a novel or it might be a short story. It could be fantasy or thriller. Maybe a mystery…
Winding
A memory in vivid color. Every morning we’d drive the same route to school. A right turn, past the Baker’s Springs sign and on to Duplex Road. The road was so narrow two cars could barely pass by without brushing…