Hot Smoke and Sassafras

My garden is in my house, guys. I should have known better...getting all plant-happy and banking on continually warm weather. News flash, Minnesota is not a continually warm weather kind of state. Due to plunging temperatures going under freezing, all plants were carried inside while fighting off an overzealous goat to keep him out of…

Authentically not Vulnerable in 2020

I was prepared to sit down and let loose a bleeding heart diatribe that has become...to be very honest...familiar. Painfully familiar. Not from me, necessarily. Granted, I’ve had my moments where I’ve been brutally honest about the problems I’ve faced but overall, I don’t spend a whole lot of time being “vulnerable.”  And then I…

Tis the Season

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and here's to a fantastic 2020 fueled with inspiration and motivation. See you next year, readers. Thank you for all of your follows, your likes and for being those outside forces that fuel my creativity.

Why Zombies vs. Juvenile Delinquents?

Sympathy and understanding is hard to come by. Society, as a whole, doesn't tend to sympathize with people unless there are circumstances that really speak to that sympathetic nature - family illness, death, loss of home, car accidents, etc. There are circumstances to which people feel sympathetic. Incarcerated juveniles put into the system for their…

Miss the Finish Line? That’s Okay!

With the end of November came the end of National Novel Writing Month, 2019. I want to start off by saying congrats to all of those aspiring authors and authors out there who pulled of their 50k goal. For those of you who didn't make it to the finish line, much like myself, it's okay.…

Too Much to Do

The seasons are changing here...quickly. We had a moment where we could breathe in that crisp fall air with the sun still warming everything while the colors of summer slipped into the gorgeous, bold hues of fall. And then it snowed. With the snow came the wind which effectively took care of any leaves clinging…

Time to Get Terrified

I follow several people who all have something in common that makes me envy them - they face the things they're scared to do and they do them. They take those dreams they have and they leap. I've been sitting on my dreams for years - my dream to be a writer, a published writer,…

Five Tips to Staying Motivated with your Writing

I'm starting this blog post out feeling very...very...unmotivated. Go figure, right? Today was the first day back to school for my kiddos and the first day back to school/work for me as a para in a middle school. To sum up how this first day went...the coffee pot is full of fresh coffee at 7pm…

Friends in Good Places

It's good to have friends in good places. Friends who don't take you for face value and who call you on your shit because they know someone needs to and they do it in a way that's actually helpful. I had one such friend come stay with me for a week recently. Catey has been…

Outlines are Ew

I've held a true distaste for outlines since being introduced to them in middle school. I remember sitting over a stack of index cards and feeling utter frustration over having to break down my ideas on writing a simple two page paper. When I started writing fan fiction at the age of sixteen, I fought…