Writing Blog

  • Writing, Community, and NaNoWriMo

    I’ve been participating in NaNoWriMo for nearly a decade.  Over the years, I wrote about NaNoWriMo on this blog. I first heard about this annual event in my creative writing class in high school. While the thought of writing an entire novel in a month felt daunting, the community aspect excited me. Writers from all

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  • Paper and Pixels

    Paper and Pixels

    I go through paper Like it grows on trees And I live in a forest. Putting pen to the page Is grounding in a way Typing is not.  Paper grants the freedom To organize my thoughts Beyond the bounds Of pixels and bytes.

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  • The Pen and the Sword

    The Pen and the Sword

    I’ve long suspected that I’d never live by  The word.  The pen is not the sword that cuts  My path.  It hangs on the wall as mere decoration Because I lack what it takes to  Become The warrior poet

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  • Writing Times: why do I write the most in my busiest times?

    I haven’t written anything since Thanksgiving. In October and November I was doing so well with writing. Even with my insanely busy work schedule and the immense stress it caused, I was getting hundreds, sometimes thousands, of words written each week. I was so focused. All day, my mind was filled with my fantasies, and

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  • The Real Reason for NaNoWriMo

    It’s time to prepare for my annual attempt (And failure) at NaNoWriMo. Every year for about a decade I have participated in NaNoWriMo in some capacity. Some years I attempt the full 50,000 word challenge, and some years I make the modest pledge to write every day in the month of November. But every year,

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  • Writing Week: Planning My Own Writer’s Retreat

    I’m thinking of taking a week off of work to write. I have over 2 weeks of PTO to use before the end of the year, and I don’t have any trips planned. Over the last few weeks I’ve been bitten by the writing bug. I have so many ideas for new drafts, redrafts, and

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  • Writing for work and pleasure, why is it so different?

    I wish I could write my stories as quickly as I write for work. At my day job, I am known for my ability to research and write 1200 word technical articles in a single day. In addition to my other responsibilities, I keep the company website up to date with educational articles about digital

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  • Practice vs. Passion in Writing: assessing my growth as a writer

    In many ways, writing still feels like a need that’s intrinsic to my nature. But, external forces have been removed. Writing is no longer a forced activity rubrics and due dates, but a chosen form of expression.

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  • The Stayed Hand: when you can’t put your ideas to the page.

    I have drafts and plots for stories I want to write. They sit in their queue, waiting for me to pick them up, dust them off, and finish them. I have dreams for fairy tales, speculative fiction, suspense, and romance, all half-written with a clear road-map- but I can’t bring myself to take the final

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  • Iron, Green, and Gold: a Frog Prince Re-telling part 5

    Part 4: Here I paced my small chamber until I grew dizzy from making sharp turns in a small place. I sat I on my narrow straw mattress, with my head in my hands, and my elbows on knees that bounced with trapped energy. Tonight would be the final act of our ill-planed play. Whether

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