The Two Dollar Tango
It has been a great feeling, watching the numbers on our eBay account tick up each month. But, for all of the successful buy-it-now listings I’ve completed and the green numbers that accompany them, so much more of my inventory sits in the reject pile. So, alas, I must now pivot from the meticulous, methodical […]
8 Tips for Writing a Great Young Adult Fiction Manuscript
Back when I offered manuscript review and editing services, I wrote up 8 tips for writing a great children’s book manuscript. At other points in my life, I myself wanted to dabble in the realm of children’s literature, as E.B. White once did with Charlotte’s Web. However, my own dabbling in fiction has led me […]
Believing in the Beauty of Dreams
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt I think a lot about the future, because it’s good to look forward. Even when contemplating my past decisions and the paths I’ve taken, I’ve come to recognize the importance of considering the future. With its vast potential for […]
The Influence of Charlotte’s Web on My Writing Life
As a six-year-old girl, I was an untamed spirit, a spark plug of curiosity with an innocent heart. My world was full of wonder, and my fingers had just began to trace the intricacies of its design. While I don’t recall how I came to have a copy of the classic story called “Charlotte’s Web,” […]
Reluctant Protagonist
Ever since my teenage years, I’ve cast myself as the reluctant protagonist of my life’s tangled narrative. I believed, perhaps naively, that by positioning myself as the central figure—often cast in the role of a tragic hero — I could somehow claim redemption in the grand arc of my poet’s soul, tethered reluctantly to this […]
In Hopes of Corralling My Writing Flights of Fancy
One day not so long ago, I awoke with many scattered thoughts, as I often do. As usual, many of them escaped me like a flock of startled birds as I lay there in the haze of my waking moments. Once I finally rose to start my day, their chirps had faded into the distance, […]
Seeing Only the Good in Others
In my youth, I was one of those rare souls who seemed to see only the good in others. For so long, I was innocently blind to flaws, captivated by the glimmer of potential in everyone I met. For much of my childhood and even young adulthood, I roamed the school halls and my neighborhood […]
Trains to Infinity
I often find myself chasing slumber on a nightly basis, with restlessness my constant companion. After searching for months on end for a solution, I happened upon a deceptively simple remedy. YouTube has a curious niche of videos that are endless loops of trains headed towards infinity through an endless rainstorm. They go on for […]
Writing Soup
“Soup” is one of my favorite words in the English language. It’s such a pleasant word. When you think of soup, it’s comforting. However, the actual meaning of ‘soup’ is pretty cut and dry. This is the Oxford Dictionary’s definition of soup: “a liquid dish, typically made by boiling meat, fish, or vegetables, etc., in […]