My own “story behind the story”

Originally posted 7/12/2010 –  In my childhood, my head was always filled with stories like the Chronicles of Narnia, the BFG, Call of the Wild and so many more. I gobbled up all the horse stories I could find. When I hit the sixth grade, I ran out of books that...

Hitting the blogging pause button

Jon Acuff (author of Quitter) posted a blog about taking the latter half of December and reposting old blogs and giving yourself a bit of a break. When you come back in 2012, you’ll be fresh and ready for new content. It’s good to pre-empt burnout when you...

Looking back and looking ahead

I think most people take stock at the end of each year and pause for at least a moment to reflect. Where have you been? Where are you going? For me, I set aside some time and decided to make a list and really examine everything that has occurred in 2011. I stared at a...

“There is no try.”

Today, I fired up the laptop, pulled up my Google Reader and this was the post that greeted me. I needed that post. I needed that reminder. This line from Star Wars is one I quote and refer to a lot. I have it written in my day planner. “Do or do not. There is...

My definitive opinion on e-readers

I recently met with a dear friend who works at a bookstore and she asked me, as a writer, how I like my Kindle. She said their customers ask about e-readers all the time, and since she doesn’t have one, she’s not exactly sure how to answer. Here’s my...

The End of NaNoWriMo – and I’m a “Winner!”

I’m so excited to have completed 50,000 words in twenty nine days. In the week prior to November, I had an additional 7,000 words, so I’m now about 30 to 40,000 words from my goal of 90,000 to 100,000 words. Phew. Lots of zeros. What I take away from...