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Living and Learning in the New Year
In 2023, I plan on sharing these quotes and writing impressions and thoughts about them, perhaps through a personal story or to provide inspiration. Anyway, that's the plan, readers. The first quote I pulled today is this one: Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you. - John De Paola
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What I’m Writing Now (or my current WIP)
* Currently, I’m not writing anything, but next week, I will begin to dive deeply into novel number five, picking up with Chapter 3 where I left off before coronavirus intensified the nature of my working life. The novel is still to be named, which I hate, actually. I typically have to have a working title, but now that the premise of the book has morphed into something different, the working title “Four in a Year,” is just, well, not working. Wrapping up the semester leaves me time only to write this short blog post before getting my grades finalized and uploaded. I shouldn’t even be taking time to do…
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The Thing That Connects Us
*** I was sitting here staring at a blank cursor knowing what I wanted to write but not knowing exactly how to say it. Then I remembered studying writer James Baldwin during my first master’s degree, and thought of his quote: “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who are alive, who had ever been alive.” – James Baldwin I’ve been “officially” publishing fiction now since 2012. Fiction is the best outlet to tell…
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A Previous Life – A Short Story
Last night at dinner with my friend, Elizabeth, she mentioned that she enjoys reading my short prompts and short stories on the blog. I haven’t written one in a long while, so this morning, I found a prompt that I decided to tackle. It goes like this: Write a scene whereby two people think that they have met before–whether in this lifetime or a previous one. This one’s for you, Elizabeth. A PREVIOUS LIFE The bar was dim, and there were few people in the place at the moment, because it was still early. The 80s music played in the background, and he caught himself tapping his foot to the…
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What Matters Most: Reflecting
When you’re about to launch another book into the universe, you have to keep yourself grounded. You can’t set your expectations too high, and you can’t set them too low. You have to keep your feet firmly planted where they are and do the best that you can to spread the word about your books and your writing because it is all about choices: you have chosen this path of self-publishing. When I begin to become frenzied and nervous, I remind myself over and over again why I do this type of challenging work on the side and why I invest so much time in it. I have to remember…
