A Critique from My Tech Geek At ten years old, I put my Easy Bake oven to rest when I discovered my mother’s Kenmore sewing machine. By the time I was in junior high I spent most of my days pouring over McCall’s pattern books. I wish I had a picture of the denim skirt…
I went to my first writer’s retreat with a proposal I wanted to finish. First off, let me say this: the word retreat is somewhat misleading. There’s no spa treatments or beaches involved. Sure it’s fun and hopefully you’ll come home with fresh inspiration, but there’s a lot of work to do. It’s the kind…
Sometimes there’s a blog that sort of grabs you out of nowhere, speaks to you in a certain place in your writing journey even when it’s not about writing. As the new year begins and you’re thinking of your writing goals, be inspired below by Christy Johnson’s blog on New Year’s “Revelations,” followed by a…
Growing up as an energetic chatty young girl, I think I drove my dad crazy. I pestered him with a million questions. With lots and lots of stories. If I heard it once I heard it 1000 times. After taking a long puff of his Swisher Sweet cigar, a cloud of smoke and frustration billowed…
Winning the Guideposts contest has been a dream of mine for at least a decade. I’ve made several submissions and have always anticipated the contest deadline for months prior. This year. Not so much. The deadline blindsided me. It snuck up on me like this week in Oklahoma when Old Man Winter showed up in…
When I first started writing I had no idea how important it was to build a platform. To be honest I didn’t even know what a platform was. I just thought if I started writing people would flock to my blog. Like the famous movie quote, I imagined… If I build it, they will come….
The call to write is both a blessing and a burden. Not many understand the labor and longsuffering it requires. The perseverance takes dedication and the rejection from publishers can be overwhelming. Years ago, just when I was about to give up, encouragement came from a wise old oak tree. Bruce climbed down the ladder…
It happens all the time. I set aside time to write but nothing comes. I sit at my desk and glare at the screen, wondering why I call myself a writer. Why can’t prolific inspiration come when my coffee, computer and keyboard are all in alignment? Instead, amazing ideas come at the most inconvenient times….