The Circle of Creativity

We’ve all had it happen, that exhaustion of the imagination, the drought, like someone took a straw and sucked up all the creative juices right out of us (okay, that was a weird analogy, but we’re going with it). I have it happen to me all the time, way more than I’d like. I just don’t want to write. Every word is forced, and comes out horrible and flat because of it. Every second staring at the blank page and blinking cursor feels like agony. I’m like butter scraped over too much bread, as Bilbo would say. A lot of…

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Goodbye, January. Hello, February.

So apparently January is over and February is here. (Um, what?) Usually I don’t do monthly wrap-up posts. I don’t have a reason, really. I get distracted by other post subjects to write? I’m too lazy to actually remember what happened during the month? *shrugs* But I know it’s a pretty big trend right now, and I actually love reading other people’s monthly summaries, getting a glimpse into all my buddies’ lives and goings-on. So I thought, why not? I seriously doubt this’ll be a habit. But today I just felt like writing a wrap-up post, and usually this blog…

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Merely Passing Through

Saturday I returned from a trip out of town where I spent an entire week with my best friend and her family. Getting to spend every single day with your best friend is a dream, especially for this extrovert. We stopped by multiple bookstores (she’s as wild about books as I am), frequented a particular coffee shop, jammed out to a variety of music during the car rides, had long conversations both deep and ridiculous, ate way too much pizza (just kidding, “too much pizza” is an impossibility), and in general enjoyed life away from life. But now the week…

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Dear You

You are beautiful. Sometimes the world will say otherwise. Sometimes labels will be slapped on you and weigh you down. Sometimes those lies will seem an awful lot like truths. Sometimes you’ll wonder what is the point in your existence. Do you know why you exist? Because God loves you. Just as the world is screaming you’re worthless, He’s whispering gently in your ear, “You were worth it.” Don’t ever apologize for your existence. I know people like that, that seem as if they’re ashamed of even breathing. That they’re just here to get in the way. And they’re the…

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Focus

The old canvas—filled with messy scratches and beautiful scenes and a chaos of life painted across its surface—has been tucked away and a brand new one sets out before us. White and pristine, ready for new colors of life. We’ve said goodbye to 2015 and 2016 is here and ahead of us. Waiting. For the laughter. For the scars. New hopes and fears in the horizon. Endless possibilities. I’ve yet to write down any goals, to think far in the future. The realization that it’s a new year hasn’t quite sunk in yet. Christmas decorations are only just now being…

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My 2015

Here we are, on the last days of the year. Were we not just waving hello to 2015? Scribbling down new goals and anticipating a fresh canvas, full of unknown adventures? Now we’re saying goodbye, laughing at all the goals we failed to keep past the first week of the year, and hoping for better this coming year. Perhaps I didn’t quite do everything I had hoped to this year, but it’s been an amazing (if not a little wild) ride anyway. I think this year was something like riding in the back of a pickup truck. Where you hope…

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The Christmas Tag – Where I Flail Excitedly About Christmas

GUYS. It is Christmas week! Are you excited? Because I am excited! Also a little in shock because IT’S ALREADY ALMOST CHRISTMAS AND THE YEAR IS NEARLY OVER HOW DID THAT EVEN HAPPEN? Ahem. But I digress. In celebration for this Christmas week I’m participating in a delightful Christmas tag, full of Christmas-y things (which I guess is why it’s called The Christmas Tag, who knew?). A huge thanks to my dearest buddy Deborah @ The Road of a Writer for passing this my way. She’s basically the bestest person in the world and if you’re not following her then…

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These December Days

One morning just a week ago I opened my eyes and realized: It’s December. December. Where the world seems a little cheerier, the days a little cozier, and life a little brighter. These are the days frost covers the ground in the early morning and the sky is soft in the afternoon. Where boots and scarves and gloves are donned for outings of Christmas shopping to find that perfect gift to make a certain someone smile. To bundle up in the car with the family and gaze at the colorful lights illuminating neighborhood homes. Where the Christmas music is pulled…

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Well, That Was Unexpected a.k.a My NaNo 2015 Adventures

Let me tell you about my NaNoWriMo. We’ll start at the beginning, well, before the beginning. The prologue if you will. October hit with all the excitement and cheer of the NaNo season. Time to plot and get pumped up for a month of too much coffee consumption and mad writing. So, with anticipation, sometime during the beginning of October I sat down and began my usual chapter by chapter outline for my NaNo novel. This particular NaNo I’ve been waiting for since my first one basically. Because this NaNo was going to take all the previous books, which had…

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In Which I Compete With Myself (and lose)

So there I was, happily lost in my story, grinning at my characters’ antics, my fingers click, click, clicking away at the keyboard, when it happened. Out of nowhere. Right between my computer screen and me with its deafening demands and ludicrous responsibilities. LIFE. NOOOOOO!!!!!! How could it? Doesn’t it know it’s NaNoWriMo? Does it not understand I’m far too busy destroying my characters’ lives to deal with my own life? How can it not see? The nerve. I’ve tried to ignore, I have. So hard. But it keeps wedging itself between my NaNo and me and refuses to leave…

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