What I’ve Learned From Five Years Of Blogging

Wow, how time flies! This February marks five years since I created this website and embarked on the journey of blogging. Over the past five years, I’ve written more than 100 posts, averaging about 1,000 words per entry, meaning I’ve written at least 100,000 words for this website. That. Is. Crazy. (When I pulled out …

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How To Handle Rejection As Writers

Whether you’re a writer or not, new goals often accompany the New Year. For some, a New Year can bring a bit of disappointment when last year’s goals went unmet. Reflecting back on the previous year may bring up feelings of frustration and shame. Perhaps your writing goals were halted in their tracks by a …

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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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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. …

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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 …

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Writing with a Day Job: Find Your People

Welcome back to part two of four on “writing with a day job,” or writing for busy people. Whether you’ve got a non-creative or creative fulltime gig, you’re a freelancer seeking to make a living while working on your novels, or a parent with a novelists’ dream, you’ve come to the right place. Two weeks …

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Rereading the Tolkien Canon (The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, & The Lord of the Rings)

It had been a while since I last read The Lord of the Rings—just about four and a half years, to be exact. Same with The Hobbit. And, to be honest, I couldn’t give a timeline on when I last read The Silmarillion; I just know it was sometime in high school. Since I’ve been …

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