Courage

"Courage, dear heart..." - C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Like many fantasy fans and aspiring writers, I was greatly influenced by C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia as a young reader. My copies of each book are well-worn, having been read cover to cover multiple times over my adolescence. The stories are … Continue reading Courage →

Rose of Autumn

(I wrote this poem a few years back for an unfinished fantasy story that will likely never see the light of day. It's about a woman who eventually became a queen,widely revered for her beauty and feared for her skill with an ax and her prickly attitude. I actually like how it came out, so … Continue reading Rose of Autumn →

Favorite Tropes

Writers are often advised to avoid certain tropes in their writing, but let's face it... some tropes/cliches are unavoidable. And some are irresistible! Tropes and cliches can be bad, don't get me wrong. They are dreaded and spurned for a reason. They can break a story and turn a reader away from a book or … Continue reading Favorite Tropes →

Rena

(Here's a short story I wrote a few years ago and have always been fond of. Hope you enjoy!) Grayson Hightower did not understand what it meant to be happy. He was not a superfluous man. He was a businessman. Forty-five, living in a posh penthouse overlooking the harbor—and he had yet to spot a … Continue reading Rena →

Writing Techniques: Self-editing and revising!

Now, the following post is based solely on MY methods. This is what works for me, but might not work for all writers. We are all wired differently, and there is no universal "right" way to do things. Now, with that disclaimer out of the way, I am going to share my personal methods for … Continue reading Writing Techniques: Self-editing and revising! →

Writing Techniques: Querying

This isn't technically a "techniques" post, because, admittedly, I have very limited experience with this. So, instead, I'm just going to babble a bit about how my process with querying has been going thus far, so it will be a bit more personal. I never attempted to traditionally publish I'm With You, though, in hindsight, … Continue reading Writing Techniques: Querying →