Blog Posts

  • How Does a Writer Decide What to Write?

    How Does a Writer Decide What to Write?

    Are you a writer? Do you have just too many ideas when it comes to knowing what you should write? I know the feeling … in more ways than one. When I pick up my two older kids from school, they’re often bubbling over with everything that happened that day. Each one likes to be… Read more

  • These Spaces in Between

    These Spaces in Between

    Airports are non-places. In-between places. You’re not really here but not really there yet. You’ve said goodbye and haven’t yet said hello. At an airport, you’re not quite in the air but not exactly on the ground. Usually, in airports we’re in too much of a hurry to contemplate the liminality of such spaces. It’s… Read more

  • The Importance of Being Present as a Writer

    The Importance of Being Present as a Writer

    The life of a writer seems almost extravagant at times. I don’t mean that I sleep in every morning, wake up only when I feel like it, then walk or drive around in search of inspiration for writing. I don’t spend hours sitting outside an overly expensive coffee shop sipping a mocha latte and writing… Read more

  • Reasons Why A Writer Writes

    Reasons Why A Writer Writes

    Why do I write? I read a quote some time ago that has stuck somewhere in my mind or heart, or perhaps both. It went something like this: “The act of writing is the act of discovering what you believe.” So much has been said of writing. Probably even more has been written about writing.… Read more

  • How to Kill a Mockingbird, a Longing for Belonging, and the Power of Story

    How to Kill a Mockingbird, a Longing for Belonging, and the Power of Story

    A Strange Introduction to Boo Radley The autumn I was 12, my big brother, Emmanuel, invented a name for our neighbor across the street: Boo Radley.  The man’s name was actually Doug. Although in his late thirties, he still lived with his mother. Doug had narrow eyes and a strange, perpetual smile. We had been… Read more

  • Writing Powerful Character Motivations in Your Story

    Writing Powerful Character Motivations in Your Story

    Why do characters need good motivations? Have you ever read a story where the characters’ motivations just weren’t solid? It might have been the protagonist or the villain whose motivation lacked substance, but it just made the story drag. When you learned what the antagonist’s main motivation was, and why he or she wreaked so… Read more