Writers have quite a way with words. It's kind of our thing, you know? Our stories' meanings often go much deeper than surface level and, for a lot of us, it's an accomplishment when we create an environment that encourages critical thinking and self-reflection for our readers. Readers may also find their own understanding of our words or add new meanings of their own. They may notice things about our stories that we as the writer did not and view them differently from us bas

Long Shore Beach, ME Towards the end of October, my mother and I spent a few days up in Maine for a much-needed vacation. I hadn't traveled really at all since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic just because of work schedules and finances and, you know, general global circumstances. The last trip my mom took was to attend a funeral, so not exactly a vacation. So we entrusted my presumably Maine Coon mix with a cat-sitter (thanks, Cara!!) and made the drive up to Maine. But, o

Back in 2020, I wrote a series of posts about pen names including reasons a writer might choose to write with a nom de plume and some tips for choosing one of your own. However, I haven't talked as much about the inspiration behind my pen name. Pseudonyms have a purpose. And for many writers who use them, there's often a meaningful reason behind the name they adopt. I knew I wanted to write with a pen name as early as the first draft of my first attempt at writing a novel at

A quick selfie with THE flash drive before the handoff I'm not one to hide my love of writing. It's the first thing I mention when a new acquaintance asks me what I like to do for fun. Throughout high school, you'd hardly see me without my black three-ring binder that held my first handwritten attempt at a novel and got so beat up that its spine was eventually held together with duct tape. And during slower shifts at my day job, you might catch me scribbling down drafts for u

Music plays a significant role in my writing process. Putting together a playlist  for any new story idea is pretty much one of, if not the first, things I'll do, even if all I have to go on is a single character name and the foggiest of concepts in my head. It lets me get a feel for the vibe of the story and explore different thematic elements I might want to weave into it. It 's also helpful for refocusing myself when I'm coming back to a project after time away from it. W

In my attempt at a parody for an April Fool's post , I drafted up a list of ultimately unhelpful writing tips inspired by tips I've seen floating around the internet. At the end of it, I promised I would be back with some advice that was actually helpful. That brings us to today's post: the only writing advice you'll actually need. Between countless books on the matter, blogs like this one, YouTube channels, podcasts, and social media, writing advice is only ever a click or