Celebrate Each One! What’s the hardest part about writing? Coming up with an idea? Brainstorming? Outlining? Writing the first draft? Revisions? Sending your story out into the world?  Trick question.  The hardest part about writing is whatever part you’re on. … Continue reading →

You Don’t. Failure is all very well and good, right? You learn from your mistakes, you grow as a person, you get stronger, better, wiser.  Not going to disagree.  But here’s the flip side. Failure has consequences. They may be … Continue reading →

Or Half-Full? I am the pessimist of our family. My husband is the optimist. (Yes, his chipper, upbeat outlook is exhausting…) I say why look to the future for sunshine and roses when you’re as likely to get rainstorms and mud? … Continue reading →

Your Stories! Waaay back in 2003, I met a new friend who worked for a cell phone company. He had a state-of-the-art, brand-spanking-new smart phone. I still had an old (already out-of-date) flip phone. With glee, he showed me how … Continue reading →

Worth Its Weight In Gold In a masochistic move, I re-read a short story I wrote last year. It’s a draft, read by no one but me, so I was expecting garbage. But I was surprised—it was pretty good! Not … Continue reading →

The Language of Imagination I love learning languages. Besides English, my native tongue, I’m almost fluent in French, was once fluent in Dutch, and have learned German, Russian and Swahili (not that I can speak them!) You know my favourite … Continue reading →

…Is Writing You have a stack of books in front of you, non-fiction, maybe, for a heap of research you intend to do for your novel. Your computer is flush with open tabs on a plethora of websites, also for … Continue reading →

The Pen Gremlin There’s a voice in my head I call the Pen Gremlin, a ball of anxiety that’s related to my Inner Critic (whom I’ve renamed my “Outer Critic” as a reminder that I’d never say to anyone else … Continue reading →

You Can Still Keep the Faith There are times in our writing lives when not only do we feel discouraged, but we may feel like people around us are alsodiscouraging us. It may not be their intent; they may simply make a joke … Continue reading →

Your Imagination Writing is hard, absolutely, but it’s also fun, right? Otherwise we wouldn’t put ourselves through such angst. 🙂 But when we’re in the thick of self-doubt, it can be hard to remember why we started in the first place. … Continue reading →