Writer. Momma. Happy Human.
Most of you know I participated in a writing contest a few months ago, in which we were assigned different genres, characters, and subjects to write about in each round. For the very first round, I was assigned "Horror, Flower Shop Owner, and Texting." I took those three things and came up with Potter's Blooms.… Continue reading Spooky Short Stories: Potter’s Blooms
I've devoted a post to this word before, but after the insanity that is #PitchWars, I thought it might be helpful to offer a little refresher. Here goes. What's your favorite movie of all time? WRONG. It's Tombstone. I don't understand why Starbucks sells hot chocolate. I can't believe some people actually think… Continue reading Subjectivity.
Ben Folds is one of my favorite artists of all time. A lot of people are familiar with him because of his mainstream hit, Brick, from the late 90s. If that’s all you know of him, PLEASE dig deeper. He’s an incredible musician and songwriter, and his songs have fantastic lines such as: “Make me… Continue reading Be Somebody’s Ben Folds
We all know the One Hit Wonder, right? It’s a term typically used to describe a recording artist known for only one hit song. Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby, Eddie Murphy – Party All the Time, Eiffel 65 – Blue (I hate myself a little for even thinking of that song), Macy Gray –… Continue reading Pondering the One Hit Wonder
Usually, when I sit down to write a story, I have a pretty good idea of who my characters are. I know their names, I know their personalities, I know what their general roles are in the story. But they don't become REAL to me until I figure out what it is that makes… Continue reading Creating Memorable Characters
We all know that, in my opinion, music is as important a part of the writing process as pen and paper (or, you know, fingers and a laptop). Whenever someone is stuck on a scene, I tell them to make a new playlist. The other day, that suggestion was met with the following reply, “I… Continue reading Creating Writing Playlists: Where to Start?
I'm one of those people who's wanted to be a writer since I was old enough to understand what it meant. Throughout my childhood, I wrote story after story and shared them with everyone I could. And then I stopped. I mean, I wrote all sorts of dramatic emo journal entries and some pretty terrible,… Continue reading I’m a Bust a Move Kind of Writer
Sometimes, when I'm feeling completely drained and uninspired, I have to get away from everything. When I moved to Lexington (pop: over 300,000) from Lancaster (pop: under 4,000), I was enamored with Lexington's abundance. Whatever Lancaster had, Lexington had more. People. Cars. Buildings. Schools. Libraries. Stores. Cars. Farms. Parks. Gyms. Restaurants. Cars. It took about… Continue reading Inspiration in Silence and Space
I know a lot of writers really love the revision process. In general, I'm not one of them. I love drafting (and I do it SLOWLY), and revisions are typically on a shorter deadline and I stress and I procrastinate and I write and I rewrite and I CRY. (I do not actually cry.) (I… Continue reading The Write Frame of Mind
(This post originally appeared on HerKentucky.) As many of you know from my very first post on Her Kentucky, I've been working on a young adult novel, BETWEEN, for about two years. I wrote it, then re-wrote it, re-wrote it, and re-wrote it again. I'm talking major, beginning-to-end rewrites, not including all the minor revisions I made… Continue reading A Dream Come True, aka I GOT A BOOK DEAL!
