New Resource & Giveaway Alert: The Occupation Thesaurus Writing Guide is Here!

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New Resource & Giveaway Alert: The Occupation Thesaurus Writing Guide is Here!

Hi everyone! Today I have something fun to share…a special chance to win some help with your writing bills. Awesome, right?

Some of you may know Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi of Writers Helping Writers. Well, today they are releasing a new book, and I’m part of their street team. I’m handing the blog over to them so they can tell you about their Writer’s Showcase event, new book, and a great freebie to check out. Read on!

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Realistic Character Descriptions: My Experience as a Floral Designer/Florist

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Realistic Character Descriptions: My Experience as a Floral Designer/Florist

To win readers over we need to write characters so authentic they feel like real people. How do we do this? By brainstorming a character’s backstory, personality, needs, desires, and their day-to-day world. Lucky for us, one aspect of their daily life is a goldmine of characterization: the type of work they do.

Think about it: a job can reveal personality, skills, beliefs, fears, desires, and more, which is why Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi created The Occupation Thesaurus, a writing guide that profiles 124 possible careers and the story-worthy information that goes with each. To help with this project, I’m sharing my experience as a floral designer/florist below, in case this career is a perfect fit for your character!

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How Reviews Support Authors (and help us write better books!)

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How Reviews Support Authors (and help us write better books!)

*Guest post by Sarah Stonich

You know that new heart-hugging ‘care’ emoji added to Facebook since the pandemic? It seems like it’s doing double duty these past weeks. As I sit to write this post, my city, Minneapolis is in the news every day. The neighborhood south of where I now live was decimated after peaceful rallies protesting George Floyd's murder were infiltrated and inflamed by outsiders; looters, and misguided bad actors. This murder-by-police has enlivened a movement–one that is spreading from a humble neighborhood to the attention of millions across cultures, borders, and time zones.

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Book Review: The Checklist Book by Alexandra Franzen

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Book Review: The Checklist Book by Alexandra Franzen

I'm a list maker. When I saw Alexandra's book, The Checklist Book, I knew I had to read it. Sometimes I think I make lists just for the sake of making a list. Other times, I'll make a list, and then I don't follow it and end up doing other things.

One of the big things I learned from reading Alexandra's book is why certain checklists don't work for me. It’s the same reason I make a list then don’t follow it!

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Visualize Your Ideal Life

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Visualize Your Ideal Life

I was about 12 or 13-years old when I read a book about high-performance athletes and how they get to Olympic level. I was a competitive figure skater and wanted to make it to nationals. Sadly, I can’t remember the name of that book, but it was fascinating.

One of the things I started doing was playing my solo music before bed, closing my eyes, and visualizing completing a perfect performance. That year was one of my best in terms of how I placed at competitions. While I never made it to nationals, I did make it to provincials that year.

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Why It Might Be Better For Your Wellbeing to Not Write Every Day

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Why It Might Be Better For Your Wellbeing to Not Write Every Day

Last month I shared a wonderful guest post by Desiree Villena—4 Reasons Writing Every Day is Great for Your Wellbeing. While I agree with the points Desiree makes, I also found myself questioning whether writing every day is great for everyone. If you follow author Becca Syme on YouTube, you’ll know about QTP—Question the Premise.

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