Here we are: another year, another Reading Recap! Welcome to Part 2 of this year’s mini-book reviews of all the new fiction books I read. If you missed Part 1, read it here. Across 2022, including non-fiction and fiction, I read a total of 57 books. I don’t think I’ve reached that reading level since …
Author: Madelynn Orion
December 2022 Writing Update: Small Victories, Goals, and Looking To 2023
Welcome to the final Writing Update of 2022! Today’s post will not only give a recap of my progress since my last update, but take a look back at the year as a whole. Let’s start with 2022 in review. Looking back at my writing goals, made at the start of this year, I ended …
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Thanksgiving Post 2022: Gratitude for Singleness
I don’t like talking about my singleness. Part of the reason? It’s a vulnerable topic for me. I never wanted prolonged singleness. Though I’m still young, I feel a strange sense of desperation related to my interrupted plans for my young adult life. I fully expected to graduate college with my Bachelor’s in one hand …
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Reading Recap 2022 – Part 1
Normally, I wait until end of December to release my annual Reading Recap, a collection of mini reviews the fiction books I read for the first time over the year. However, my list is growing SO large that I decided to split up the lists rather than cutting books from it. It’s exciting that I …
My Villain Manifesto: Reflections on Antagonists in Fiction
Back in my old theater days, I was typecast as the villain. I played Cinderella’s stepmother (twice), Shere Khan in the Jungle Book, and—one of my favorites—Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty. I’ll admit, it feels rather empowering to be the bad guy, gliding across the stage, robed in black, the other actors trembling before you… Me …
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So You’re Thinking About Graduate School?
It’s that time of year when college seniors start to sweat. The barrage of questions comes from all circles of your life and from yourself: What are you doing after graduation? Do you have a job yet? What’s your plan? What the heck are you going to make of your life? I’ve certainly been there. …
Writing Update October 2022
It has been a while since my last writing update, hasn’t it? While I aim to do these quarterly, to be honest… there hasn’t been much to update? I originally had this update on my calendar for July. Then I pushed it back to August. Then I just decided to scrap the summer update and …
Novellas In Series: Necessary Or No?
Lately, I’ve been reading series that include novellas alongside full-length novels, which has brought up questions about the roles that novellas play in the overall story of a series and whether or not I think it’s a valuable practice. Specifically, back in July, I read the three Skyward Flight novellas connected to the Skyward series …
The Subcreators: One Year Later
It’s been just over one year since we founded The Subcreators. If that name sounds familiar to you, that means one of two things. One, you know me personally and are a part of the group. Two, you’ve read J. R. R. Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy-Stories,” which defines what “subcreator” means. The idea behind the …
Where Did Whitman Court Come From?
Great question. It’s a bit of a murky journey. Here’s a fun fact about me as a writer: most of my story ideas that I’m actively working on came to me in high school or earlier. Unfortunately, though, it’s difficult to determine when an idea first occurred to me or when I started working on …
By Madelynn Orion 