Small beauties fill life with wonder

Ten Inspirations

What inspires me today? 1. Thinking of the awesome people in my life. 2. Getting emails from my readers. 3. Reading inspirational quotes as I look for a quote for this post. 4. Creating my own inspirational quote. šŸ˜‰ 5. Letting inspiration flow through me while planning a new story. 6. Getting feedback from a first draft that will make […]

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Where did all the losers go?

Where Did All The Losers Go?

Confession: I personally identified with the label ā€œloserā€ for the vast majority of my life. It started when I was young, and didnā€™t relent even after I had success as a writer. Even with millions of copies of my novels printed, translated into other languages, and published by different publishers, I still considered myself to personally be a loser: my […]

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The Foundation of Success

I had a new blog post all written and ready to post, and then I came across this video. It’s only 10 minutes long, and I recommend it to anyone who wants success for themselves or their children. Yes, it’s that important! Enjoy!

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Crowd of Awesomeness

Iā€™m not complaining. Keep that in mind as you read this. Itā€™s just I have too many ideas for books, movies, articles, and more, and choosing which to work on seems almost impossible some days. Though it doesnā€™t seem like a curse, this is the bane of many writers: too many beautiful, compelling stories shouting out how engaging they are, […]

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Star Trek and the Ego

Iā€™ve been thinking a lot about ego lately, and just recently came to some intriguing thoughts. I think ego has been getting a bad rap in some ways. Let me explain: Ego has an important and even life saving job: to protect us in a sometimes cruel world. In childhood the ego works overtime to build these protections around us, […]

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Magic Realism Realized

I knew Gabriel Garcia Marquez was from Colombia, but until I went there, I didnā€™t realize how his homeland must have influenced his work. They call Colombia the land of magic realism, and itā€™s very fitting. Colombia is very REAL, and by capitalizing it, I mean more expressive, more colourful, bigger, and louder than the understated colours and culture Iā€™m […]

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The Hazards of Personal Mind Games

There once was a person who wanted to create stories, and so she did. Her first novel was purchased by a publisher who liked it so much they asked for more. Overjoyed, she wrote more novels for them that they also loved. Other publishers in other countries published her books as well and soon she quit her ā€œday jobā€ and […]

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ROAD TRIP and FREE BOOKS

So excited to be off on a new adventure in the morning. I am full of anticipation and dread, a lovely road trip combined with being the only driver for almost 8,000 km. Yikes! But hey, all things are possible, right? Before I go, I want to do a shout out about my good friend, Ev Bishop, whoĀ happens to also […]

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Ciudad Perdida

Two days later, we hiked into Ciudad Perdida. The trip up to that point had been amazing: the cloud forest vegetation and flowers, the river, the indigenous dwellings, coca plants, and so much more. The second day of hiking, we passed an elderly indigenous woman on the trail. She asked with hand signals for a hiking stick from a woman […]

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Cuidad Perdida or Bust

I seriously thought I was going to collapse. Hills should not be this high or this steep. Three hours up? In 35 degree CĀ Ā heat? With no shade? Come on! The rest of our small group had shown us their backs a while ago. Iā€™d already guzzled most of the water by the time the trail turned to white chalk dust, […]

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