Life from a Rotting Log
What can a swamp-soaked piece of wood teach us about resilience? Between 40 bug bites and a sinus infection, here is why feeling unproductive is sometimes the first step to growing something beautiful.
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An Opera House in the Jungle: Notes from the Author Zone
This is my first summer break as a middle school teacher, and I feel like I’ve been dropped into a strangely quiet writer’s limbo. My current daily routine looks something like this: I set goals each day, and I write. Then I edit, then I write. I go down a massive research rabbit hole for…
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Navigating Life’s Ambush Predators: When the Swamp Swallows Your Plans
Just when you think things are going well… bam. The water splashes, the boat rocks, and you’re suddenly scrambling to figure out what to do next. That is what writing a novel is like. Honestly, it is what life is like, too. We all love a good schedule. But today’s reflection is about what happens…
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The Tides of Writing
Last week, my mother-in-law came to town and treated my little family to a beach vacation in Myrtle Beach. We spent plenty of time enjoying the waves, but my favorite moments happened when I got my kayak and camera out. After doing some research, I quickly identified a salt marsh where I could paddle around…
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Finding Beauty in the Everyday
As the weather warms up, my family and I have been spending more and more time outside. Last week, we went to a different park or hiking path every day after my long days teaching. We’ve been in South Carolina now for about 9 months, and I finally feel like we’re starting to get a…
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Day 1 of Writing 9,000 Words
One of the biggest traps a writer can fall into is believing that their work needs to be incredible the first time around. That’s the kind of thinking where writer’s block is born. Today I officially started a full week off of work, and boy, did I hit the ground running. Yesterday, I sat down…
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Bass the Putter: The Infinite Loop of Creative Irony
Do you ever mix up the sounds and letters in words while you’re talking? Because I do. And it feels like I do it a lot. It’s actually become a running joke in my inner circles because I also write a lot, and words are my thing. You know? Indiana Jones has a hat, Popeye…
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C’est la Vie: A Writer’s Perspective
There are about seven hundred sixty-two moments a day where I stop and think, “hey, that would make a good blog. I should write about it.” Of course, seven hundred sixty of them get fizzled out within a minute or two, but a couple remain by the end of the day. Lately, I take those…
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Writing Through the Chaos
Worry not! I’m still alive. 😉 Words are getting written, too. It’s been a massive adjustment over the last six months—starting a job teaching, moving to South Carolina, raising my little baby boy. It adds up. Life gets busy. Fortunately, I feel like writing has already become a core piece of who I am. Even…
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Discovering the Magic Hidden in History
The idea of historical fantasy can feel like a paradox. Fantasy is all about wild, magical worlds full of imagination. History is founded on facts meticulously pieced together over years of study. One plays with and changes facts, while the other fixes them in place. Yet, as opposite as they are, the two can intertwine…
