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Stay Positive, Writers!
It’s the first day of summer break for me, and that means it’s time to dust off my work in progress and hunker down. I’d really love to have this novel done by the end of summer. However, in doing so, there are challenges. It’s really easy to tell ourselves that our work is mediocre…that it needs a lot more love and attention…and that may very well be true. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be wonderful! My current work in progress needs some love and attention. I have to start at the beginning and go through it, chapter by chapter and sentence by sentence. I have to pull this…
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Update on My (currently unnamed) WIP
On Friday night, I reached over 71,000 words on my #WIP (work in progress). I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love the direction change I made with this story back in December. Now, the novel has glue and a backbone and characters I wish were my friends. I still have a way to go, but it makes me so happy to sit down and write when I’m writing about places I love and I can live vicariously through my characters. I took this lovely photo back in September in Oxford when, in the name of research, I spent time in both #oxfordmd and #stmichaelsmd. I can’t…
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Please, Do Not Call Yourself A Writer, Unless…
I’m a writer. I can say that now. I’ve written four fiction books and one academic textbook with my colleagues. It annoys me when people say they are writers when they are not. Have you written something today? Then you are a writer. Did you write something yesterday? Then you are a writer. You can’t call yourself a writer unless you actually engage in the craft of writing. To my students: you are writers. You are writing. I am excited to read your articles. To my fellow writers on Instagram and Twitter: you are writers. Many of my followers and those I follow are writing. We are all working hard…
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What I Got From Listening to Glennon Doyle Melton
Last night, my book club friends and I went to listen to Glennon Doyle Melton speak at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park. We purchased our tickets a couple of months ago, and I was eager to hear what she had to say. Glennon is the founder of Momastery, author, speaker, and a regular person with struggles just like the rest of us. Beyond her very funny delivery of material and the way she related to God and Jesus on a personal, colloquial, and humorous level, she made it easy for all of us gals in the room to relate to her. A recovering alcoholic and bulimic who suffers…