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

This weekend, I turn 28. We're keeping things pretty low-key as it's not what my grandfather would have called a "momentous occasion" in my mind. But 28 is still something of a milestone year for me as a writer. I've been writing since I was 14 years old. In other words, I can now officially say that I've been writing novels seriously for half of my lifetime. Who would have ever guessed that something I started dabbling in to pass the time while having to sit out of PE class

In the seventh grade, I got a blue hoodie for Christmas. Money was tight that year and my mom found it on the clearance rack at Fashion Bug. It was plain, a cotton cable-knit zip-up, seemingly nothing special—and believe me when I say I lived in it. It was practically a second skin, which astounds Mom to this day. I referred to it as a wearable security blanket because I loved the texture of the yarn in a way I couldn't exactly explain (and it was almost the same shade of blu

As a kid, it was almost a weeknight ritual to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! with my parents after the evening news. I always had a blast playing along and contributing answers from the couch while finishing the dessert from a Kid Cuisine microwave dinner. My mother loves to tell people about the time I solved a Wheel of Fortune puzzle before the contestants when I was four; for those wondering, it was "Winnie The Pooh And Tigger Too." It's safe to say Wheel of Fortu