My entire life, I've been raised on check lists. Go to school? Check! Get good grades? Check! Do your studying and stay out of trouble? Check! College? Check! Masters degree? Check! As a result of the checked checklist, I've been told I'm entitled to: the job I want, a house, a decent life. I am …
Category: Writer
Thunder Thighs and Crinkle Fries
It's not a shocker that I, a woman, who was once a preteen girl and even younger, have body issues. Last year, I went on the biggest weight loss kick of my life. I lost over forty pounds, though that still kept me in the overweight range according to the BMI chart (let's be completely …

Drowning in the Shallows
I admire John's eager love for the beach, the ever churning ocean waves, and the recklessness of swimming to far out islands and buoys barely visible from the sandy shore. A wildness comes out in him at the beach, when the sun is high and hot, the water cold and rushing up past your shins. He's extremely playful like a Labrador set free in a dog packed dog park, but I was so timid and downright terrified when first standing in the damp, cool sand.
Beautiful Destruction on Glory Road
The following short story was one I wrote back in high school. It won an honorable mention in a county-wide contest, which was remarkable enough to post my picture in the city paper. I was surprised because I honestly hated this story, loathed this character I created, and still do. But to this day, it's …
What Does a Wayward Writer Write?
My life hasn't gone how I planned. Who can say differently, though? When I was a know-nothing kid, I thought that things would align easily. The teachers made it seem like things would, so long as you behaved and got good grades, though. Everything will just fall into place. So I made an age-marked goal …
A Christmas Memory
The night was still young yet already pitch black by the time the airplane made it to its destined gate. I paced between the two areas for exiting passengers up the large and long hall of the Will Roger's Airport. The airport isn't a huge one, but with only one plane left to arrive for …

Simple Steps
Have you ever started plotting out a draft, story, dream journal and found yourself with too complex and heavy of an idea meshed with dozens of other ideas that make you go, "Man, this needs to be an entire series!" But then you start, and the idea of creating no only one book for a story idea but three, four, or even five and you're feeling heart palpitations every time you sit at the keyboard. That anxiety is unnecessary, and what is the rule for unnecessary items in a draft?

Na-Oh, no-Wri-Mo
National Novel Writing Month...a month both embraced and reviled by writers who are on the social media platforms. I have accomplished it ONCE, and I don't even know what happened to that unfinished book (I got the wordcount but never finished it as I planned after because guess what, I was exhausted!)
Past Halloween Look: Through the Looking Glass
A theme I notice about my costumes is I always choose a fantasy/whimsical character. Maidens, witches, vampiresses, heroines who go around eating and drinking everything while crying about wanting to go home...

Short Horror Story: One For Sorrow
Hello, hello, friends! I hope all of you are having another great week in this amazing month. The weather is cooler, the days are shrinking, and the best time of year is upon us! I have to say thank you so much for everyone who has been reading these shorts and commenting, liking, and even sharing the blog to others! You don't know how much that means to someone who always wanted to be a writer but can only do it as a hobby (I planned on being a big shot novelist living in NYC when I was in high school. Let's all have a big laugh in 3...2...1...)