writing

August 14, 2016

Reflections on Writing a Novel Draft

During my journey home from Italy, I was super bored and, thus, my brain went crazy and came up with a novel idea that I am ridiculously excited about. Thankfully, I hit 50,000 words on my other novel draft, so I was able to set that one aside without too much guilt to begin this… Continue reading

Musings, Scribblings

author, authors, Book, book review, books, bookworm, brainstorming, character, essay, Fiction, first draft, inspiration, INTJ, literature, NaNoWriMo, novel, reader, Reading, romance, short story, writer, writer problems, writing
August 13, 2016

Italian Lessons

Okay, so the title of this post is a bit misleading. To clarify, I have not taken lessons in speaking Italian and, if I’m being completely honest, my Italian speaking abilities consists of basic greetings, “grazie”, and apologetically smiling and batting my eyes. Oh, and I got pretty good at ordering coffee and gelato. But… Continue reading

literary living, Musings

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July 11, 2016

Writing Victories

Just had to brag a little bit: Today marks the two-year birthday of my baby novel. On this day in 2014, I was inspired to write a book about a quirky little town that I stumbled upon and, to my delight, today I reached the word count required for my manuscript to qualify as a… Continue reading

Scribblings

author, authors, Book, books, bookworm, cobbly nob, coffee, coffee shop, draft, editing, Fiction, first draft, inspiration, manuscript, NaNoWriMo, novel, Reading, tea, tennessee, writer, writing
July 3, 2016

Writing is Hard: A Lament

Writing is hard and I’ll tell you why: I am not the Bard and that makes me cry. Red pens are bloodstains on my poor first draft Despite prep-school refrains about the English “RAFT.” Well, dear school teachers, I must ask you now: Though you seemed to be preachers, I do not know how To find out my… Continue reading

literary living, Poetry

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June 23, 2016

Miss Darcy

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman having read or seen Pride and Prejudice, must be in want of a Mr. Darcy.” – Jane Austen and Ryanne McLaren* *Note: The above quote does not actually represent the entirety of this post, but I did think it rather apt in capturing the feelings of Austenites… Continue reading

Literature, Musings

AP Literature, author, authors, blog, blogger, Book, books, bookworm, character analysis, characters, classic literature, darcy, elizabeth bennet, great books, inspiration, INTJ, Jane Austen, literature, meyers briggs, mr. darcy, novel, pride and prejudice, reader, Reading, romance, torrey honors institute, writer, writing
June 14, 2016

A Bigfoot Story

I’m currently on vacation in Montana with my family, staying in a charming cabin near Glacier National Park. The cabin has a guestbook in which visitors are asked to record the highlights of their stay. In flipping through it I became bored immediately. Most people wrote things like this: “Ate pizza and went skiing. Fun… Continue reading

literary living, Scribblings

bigfoot, finding bigfoot, funny, glacier national park, guestbook, humor, journal, montana, sasquatch, travel, writing
June 1, 2016

Melanie’s Lemon-Berry Muffins

It seems that every year around the beginning of summer I reread or at least skim parts of Gone with the Wind. I even venture to take the 959-page tome into the pool, to the horror of bookworm friends who doubt my ability to keep from dropping it into the water. (Seriously, people, I am an… Continue reading

Recipes for Readers

author, Book, bookworm, classic literature, gone with the wind, healthy muffins, healthy recipe, lemon, literature, muffins, novel, Reading, refreshing summer recipe, scarlet o’hara, strawberry, summer recipe, writer, writing
May 23, 2016

11 Writers’ Paradises

I use “I’m a writer!” to justify haunting many eclectic and sometimes downright strange locations. I visited four of the below Eleven Writers’ Paradises today, so I guess you could say it was a successful Sunday! (And yes, I know 11 is a weird number for a list, but it is my favorite number so sorry not sorry.)… Continue reading

Musings

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March 9, 2016

Jill of all Trades or Renaissance Woman?

I am what one might call a “Jill of All Trades,” the female counterpart of a “Jack of All Trades.” I quite liked this phrase until I saw a quote on Pinterest (seriously, Pinterest? You’re supposed to be my social media happy place!) that reads: “Jack of all trades, but a master of none.” Well stink.… Continue reading

literary living, Musings

blog, books, classic literature, composing, da vinci, inspiration, jack of all trades, jill of all trades, Music, novel, organ, piano, Reading, renaissance man, renaissance woman, short story, writing
January 30, 2016

The Shop

“Okay, what quirky place inspired this story?” asked my editor upon reading the following tale. “It’s too random not to be based on reality.” My editor (who may or may not also be my mother, but she was an English teacher/professor so it’s kosher) was right. This story sparked to life in an antique mall in… Continue reading

Scribblings

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January 12, 2016

Two Poems for Two Places

Driving across my home state of Arizona, I was struck not only by the differences between my Sonoran Desert home and White Mountain destination, but by the subtle similarities between the two. While it might seem odd that I was able to find any commonality between these so apparently distinct places, I sensed a certain artistic… Continue reading

Poetry

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January 10, 2016

Literary Tourism

Don’t be a tourist. I don’t mean don’t travel; by all means, see the world and explore new places! But don’t be a tourist, defined as “a person who travels for pleasure, especially sight-seeing and staying in hotels.” That doesn’t sound so bad, but can one really experience a place through simply seeing sights and… Continue reading

literary living, Literature, Musings

Anna Karenina, author, Book, books, bookworm, classic literature, explorer, exploring, great books, literary, literature, london, masterpiece, novel, paris, Reading, tolstoy, tourism, travel, traveller, writer, writing