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How I Ruined My Wife’s Birthday

I’m a man, and as such, struggle when it comes to being thoughtful. I think I’m thoughtful (after all, my mind is always full of thoughts), but then my wife has a birthday and I realize I’ve completely failed her as a husband. Today is her birthday, and since I am stuck at work all day (this is me, at work, during my lunch break), we decided that this entire weekend would hold all her…

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Character Interview: Sharme (Beneath the Haze)

I’m here with Sharme Rowlar, head and founder of the Haze Institution. For those who don’t know, the HI works to learn more about the Haze: what it is, where it came from, and ultimately, is there anything down there? So, Sharme, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?   Sharme: I still can’t believe you managed to get an interview with me. But, a deal’s a deal, I suppose. Hi, I’m Sharme. Like…

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Writing Goals for 2017

Happy 2017! I know, I know…I’m a little late on the welcome wagon. It’s been a busy December, and things have finally slowed down (enough, at least). One of the best things about the new year is I get to set New Year Goals. Goals are essential for growth; without them, a person would be like a boat without a sail, drifting in the sea, being taken wherever nature pulls it. By setting goals, we…

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Finding Christmas Spirit

As a teenager and all through college and grad school, Christmas was a holiday that I looked forward to a lot. It wasn’t because of presents or being with family (although those things certainly were nice), but it meant that school was out. It was a nice break from the daily grind and a time I could lay back, sleep in, and do whatever I wanted. I never got super excited about Christmas mismo (sorry…

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4 Lessons of Hope from a Rejection Letter

My friend, Debbie, writes children’s picture books and has been working on pitching them to agents. Recently, she received a response from an agent that wasn’t a generic rejection letter. The agent actually wanted her to send over more of her books! So she did. When the agent responded, Debbie was beyond excited. The agent had requested more books (she ended up sending over six), and was obviously interested. A deal would no doubt be…

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NaNoWriMo 2016 Recap

We’re already well into December and I haven’t written since November. Alright, so it’s only the 6th, and I’ve had longer dry spells than this. But it feels like it’s been so long! NaNoWriMo 2016 was intense, to say the least. But, get through it I did, and while I can already tell there will need to be extensive revisions (when aren’t there?), the story is coming along marvelously. I say coming along, because I’m not quite…

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NaNoWriMo is in the Books!

Sorry for no update last week. Between writing and Thanksgiving and everything else that was going on, there just wasn’t time. But, I’m please to announce that, as of last week, I officially won NaNoWriMo! My total word count is 50,673. I’ll have one more day of writing yet this month before my official tally is recorded, but I’m beyond excited for how far I’ve come with it, and for where it’s going. You’re going…

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Halfway Through November: A NaNoWriMo Update

Wow, November has been all kinds of busy! But, my novel won’t write itself, so I’m continuing to find time where I can. Today is November 16, 2016, which means we’re halfway done with November and NaNoWriMo. Here’s where I am write (haha) now:   Total word count: 31,835 Average words per day: 2,122 Pages (single spaced): 69 Chapters: 22   I have only been able to write two or three days a week, so I’m actually…

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Introducing My New Novel

After finishing the last book in my Dwarf Mountain series last year, I was excited to move away from the young adult genre I usually wrote and get to work on an adult fantasy novel. Don’t get me wrong, I loved writing YA fantasy, but what I wanted to do next was beyond the scope of YA.     I have been planning my new novel for nearly a year, thinking about it constantly, jotting…

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50K Words in 30 Days: Can I Have More Time, Please?

NaNoWriMo 2016 is upon us! This will be my 5th year participating and my 4th consecutive NaNoWriMo as well. I love it. Mostly because it gives me great motivation to pump out a novel. My writing friends are also doing it, so it also provides a little bit of friendly competition. Each time I’ve done NaNoWriMo, I have successfully written 50,000 words before November ended. I’m not saying that because it’s easy. On the contrary,…

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