Spring has almost sprung and I’m excited to tell you that your battle with the seasonal blues is coming to an end. It can be a real challenge to stay creative in the winter months, unless it’s just your jam, but it’s time to kick off the rust and jump into all of the new work that you want to create now that Daylight Saving is upon us.
Read MoreRecently, I came across a post where an author was talking about writing to the market as a way to build a successful writing career. It was an interesting take because I tend to be adverse to any inkling of curbing my creativity in any way to a market. I remember people telling me that romance was having a moment when I released Good Morning, Love and it was funny to me because I would have been writing that book anyway. I mean, I started it in 2017 simply because it was a story I wanted to write, it came out five years later. I will always write love stories, even when and if romance is beyond its moment, which it never will be because everything is a love story.
Read MoreRecently there was a clip of Will Smith that circulated where he talked about the gap between being a B and A student and the reality of the work it takes to get to that next tier. Similarly in writing, there will be the writer you want to be and the writer you are, and what separates those who get to a certain level of greatness are those who are able to recognize their gaps and figure out how to apply the knowledge to improve their craft.
Read MoreOne thing that felt evident in all the craft talks during my residency in Italy was that often, we think we have a story, when really we only have an idea. I feel like this happens when we’re pitching too, nonfiction work. What is the actual story you are trying to tell?
Read MoreI can’t stress enough the importance of reading as a writer. It’s why we have podcast episodes that deep dive books. It’s why we are currently reading James by Percival Everett for our summer reading series. We have older newsletters of the same moniker, reading only feeds your own writing practice.
Read MoreI started writing for public consumption as a blogger. Around 2013 was prime time for personal blogs and it seemed like the smartest way to start to get myself out there as a writer. Step by step, I built a small following and got really consistent with 600-800 word posts. That was the sweet spot for a while. I would think it up, batch write, and post multiple times a week to the instant gratification of blog and social media comments about whatever my musings were for the moment.
Read MoreI’m struck by a few things in this passage. The first, “art is a durational practice.” This is such an important concept to me here in 2024. Since I started Good Morning, Love in 2017, it’s been nonstop writing. I’ve written two manuscripts, I have a piece of another, and I’m currently drafting something new. But this current work in progress is the first time that I’m not feeling any pressure on the timing to get it done. I think a driving force with those other manuscripts was, will I be able to publish another book? Like how do I not miss this moment, which who’s to say hasn’t already passed, but I wanted to feel like I would be ready for the moment if it came. Like publishing wasn’t going to be waiting on me because I didn’t have finished material. I felt like I was trying to write my way to something, and now I understand that I’m simply writing, and whatever happens, happens. A story takes the time it takes to come together.
Read MoreAs a generation, many of us are used to instant gratification. I mean there is literally an app for everything, we type random questions in Google day in and day out and get answers, and people in our lives are literally accessible to us every minute of the day. Remember when you left home and people could not reach you until you returned? What a world. But books, well, somehow they have maintained the beauty of the long game, and while AI may change some of the time it takes in the future, on this day, it is still a journey.
Read MoreI’m at a loss of what I would like to write next. My second project was turned down by my publisher. My third is with my agent, awaiting any additional feedback before we go out on submission. The best thing I’ve done in the past to help with the fact that publishing moves at a snail’s pace is typically to write something else, but I’m not sure what I’m ready to dive into next.
Read MoreThirteen to fourteen years ago, I boarded a plane headed to Los Angeles, California. I’d been at my job for close to two years and they were sending a group of us to LA to do an onboarding. Yes, that much later than my start date, but nonetheless, it came with so much anxiety. I was in my early twenties, had never been on a plane, and certainly had never been that far from my family. Your girl stayed local for college. Either way, the moment I landed at LAX, I realized I wasn’t in Kansas anymore.
Read MoreWe talk a lot about the business of writing, but there is a personal element of writing that has seen me through various hardships in my life. Grief, especially, is one of them. Sadly, I know grief intimately. Over the years, I’ve lost people I loved both quickly and heartbreakingly slow. Writing has been an integral part of making sense of loss, of archiving loss, of healing from loss.
Read MoreSomeone recently complimented me on my ability to write description, which honestly was such a validating comment because it’s something I’ve worked really hard on. I would read other writers all the time and think, “I wish I could describe things as well as they do.” In my self-critical pattern, I also feel like I still have a ways to go, but I do have some processes that have certainly helped me along the way.
Read MoreThere is an age-old concept in sales, the ABCs, always be closing. It’s all about having multiple irons in the fire. Knowing that you should always be pitching, selling, and ultimately closing deals because sales is a numbers game. Thankfully, we’re not in sales. You can take a deep breath. However, as writers, what I feel is just as valuable, is the idea that you should always be observing.
Read MoreI’m here to talk a little shop on books this week. I mean, it is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), so bear with me if this is not necessarily your lane. However, I will say that most things are applicable to all different kinds of writing, if you drill into it a bit, but I digress. The moral of the story is that I’ve been working on drafting a new project this month and something important stuck out to me about the importance of knowing what the heck your book is actually about.
Read MoreNovember is National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo. Every year, writers embark on the journey of writing 50,000 words throughout the month to end up with a manuscript draft by the close. Participants can create a profile, set goals for their new or existing project and engage with a community of writers on the same pursuit.
Read MoreAt times, it can seem like the importance of research in writing is relegated to history. Like if you’re writing about the past, you need to research the time period and make sure you’re not using 21st century slang in the 1800s. But because of my journalism background, I understand how important it is to know who and what you’re writing about before and during the work of constructing the words on the page.
Read MoreDrexel University. The panel centered music and memory which is a topic truly dear to me. So many of my earliest memories include a lot of music. From the fact that my dad would sing in the kitchen anytime he cooked. Or that my mom loved Rachelle Farrell and would play her album on repeat. Music is connected to core memories for many of us. Some of the happiest memories, and some of the worst. It took me years to be able to listen to “Miss You” by Aaliyah without crying after it was played at my best friend’s funeral in high school. Music is a part of our worlds, and not only has it been helpful in setting the mood for my writing practice, it also finds its way into shaping and molding my story ideas and plot.
Read MoreAt times, I think there is the thought that as writers, you have to have amazing ideas at all times and that’s simply not the case. We all can use a little inspiration at times, and that’s where writing exercises and prompts come in.
Read MoreThe sun is already beginning to set a little earlier, and I’m wondering where exactly the summer had to be. Word on the street is the world is spinning faster on its axis, however, I’m thinking it comes with getting older. Time is flying either way, which has made me want to be a lot more intentional about how I’m spending it.
Read More“What’s your writing process?” This is a question I feel like I’ve been asked often since becoming an author that I never considered as much when blogging and freelancing. But writing a book is indeed a process, but until you’ve done it, honestly, more than once, it’s hard to really pinpoint a process per say. It took drafting my most recent manuscripts for me to understand that I do have a process, and the reality is, we all do.
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