• Medium,  Poetry

    So You Want to Be a Poet

    You can do it! But maybe do these things first… So you want to be a poet. You have decided that you’re going to become the next great Instagram poet and land a lucrative book deal. You want to bring…

  • Medium,  Writing

    Are You a Pantser or a Planner?

    When I was new to writing, I often didn’t know what I was doing. I spent the valuable (and few) minutes I had every day to devote to writing just floating around in a sea of words. There was often…

  • Medium,  Poetry,  Writing

    What Makes a Good Poem?

    When you think of poetry, your mind might go to the classics. Perhaps to Homer’s The Odyssey or to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales — both epic stories told in meter and reflected in the tropes of modern storytelling still used today. Or maybe when you…

  • Writing

    Finding the Time to Write (or Not Write)

    Something interesting that I have found about writing is how much I learn about it when I’m not writing.  It may sound counter-intuitive, but I almost always find this to be the case. Over the summer I was writing nonstop. …

  • Beginnings,  Life

    Don’t Let Fear Get to You

    Over the course of the past several weeks I feel like I have been hit with the same kind of advice coming at me from so many different directions: fear is not a reason to say no. Admittedly, I didn’t…

  • Writing

    Writing After You Get That Degree

    Or, alternatively, things I wish someone would have told me. You will most likely forget to write.  I know it seems impossible while you are in college immersed in writing everything from research papers to your weekly calendar, but you…

  • Writing

    The Circle of Life (and Writing)

    If you read the title to this post and instantaneously thought of The Lion King, know that this was the goal. Well, that and some other things that I’m planning to address in the coming paragraphs, but it is my sincerest…