Why I didn't participate in IWSG last month? Why I promised something exciting in July but failed to follow through?
You are asking all the right questions, and I'm thankful you want to know. I've been busy, stressed, anxious, and so much more over the last few months.
Welcome to a special blog post! This particular post is the second half of a project I'm completing for my Talent Development class (taught by Dr. Susan Waite), which is part of my master's program at Texas State University. With this activity (one of four different choices), I'm supposed to explore the phrase "apart, we are together" or the phrase "a shared world" in relation to an issue I care about in the world today. Then, I'm supposed to create a piece of "art" and share it with others.
To me, success isn't determined by my ability to produce words...
My favorite writing craft book is The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing by the editors of Writer's Digest. This book features articles and interviews from numerous authors and is broken down into five parts.
Great question. I'm here, and I'm working on something big! Check back in later this month for something I never thought I'd share. In the meantime, please enjoy this poem I wrote just now when I'm supposed to be finishing up a baby quilt... From the quilt I'm supposed to be working on... A lot [...]
Have you missed me? It's been quite some time since my last post [NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program (Author Toolbox)], which was in October of 2020. I have been busy since then, so this lovely blog of mine has been moved to the back-burner. What exactly have you been up to? First, I'll give you a quick [...]
A young woman, who is avoiding her mom’s repeated phone calls, is eager to commence with her birthday tradition as soon as her sister arrives at their favorite theme park.
When a law-abiding teenager breaks one of society’s oldest rules, he discovers that his watch doesn’t actually answer to him.
You may or may not have heard about mind maps for brainstorming ideas. However, I find coming up with those ideas to be considerably difficult sometimes, especially when it comes to teaching essays in class.
This exercise creates questions. Will all the answers show up in the novel? Probably not... but the answers will help us better understand our character.
I don't know about you, but every time I go into a store that sells notebooks, I find myself picking up each one and flipping through it. Even if I don't intend to buy one, I imagine what could be written on those pages.
Not only have my notebooks changed over the years, but my writing has also changed. Please join me as I walk you through the evolution of my writer's notebook, including four key things about each notebook.
For my return to Author Toolbox, I want to share with you the four ways I've used to find my motivation to write again. I hope that some of them will work for you if you ever feel like this writing thing needs a break.
Four months... I haven't posted anything on this blog for four months. Did you miss me? I don't know about you, but life has been pretty crazy since January. Long story short, I've had a lot of reasons (excuses) not to write. However, I plan to remedy that now. But first, you should listen to [...]
Week two of #100DaysofNotebooking has come and gone. With it, I have had a blast trying new things, reflecting on topics I enjoy, and planning for future writing. If you haven't already, be sure to check out Michelle Haseltine and her post where she introduces this amazing notebooking challenge! You can start your day one [...]
As I was preparing for my second post about #100DaysofNotebooking, I realized that my titles don't really help you know the content of the posts. Notebooking daily means the topic likely changes daily, so I've decided to keep a Table of Contents here for you in case you want to see certain kinds of posts. [...]
I won’t sugar-coat it… At first, my students were completely confused. That is 100% my fault because I gave them too much too soon.
It's been a few weeks since I've updated you on my gamification progress. I'm happy to say, it's going well! In a way, I have "leveled up" by incorporating the standards for my class into my game. Since I'm in Texas, we use the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills). Why do this? Why not? [...]
Don't even think the word can't right now. The easiest way to start writing a poem is to let the words lead you. Watch...
Today (March 14th) is National Write Down Your Story Day. One of my stories is why I decided to be a teacher, which is not what I wanted to be when I was a kid. In truth, I wanted to be an archeologist for the longest time, but that dream ended in 8th grade after [...]
Immortal Words of a Mortal Writer 