shackles on shackles off

Shackles On, Shackles Off

I was so impressed by an exercise from “Steering by Starlight”, by Martha Beck, that I just had to share. Fair warning: you may want to read this exercise in her book as well, since I’m explaining my understanding of it, which may be different from what she intended. There is a ton of other valuable stuff in her book […]

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Tackling Procrastination

Things become what you think they are – including your story.   You finally have time to write. The house is quiet. You have no pressing duties. It’s just you and your book for the next two hours. You approach your desk – and a sinking feeling creeps its insidious way into your stomach, or a tension headache flares, or […]

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Two Celebrations

First, tell husband that any day now, I may hear from one of the two screenwriting contests that I entered in 2016. I’m kind of nervous, you see. After all, the story or the concept or the writing or the characters might be crap, right? He assures me that HOLY COYOTE will do great, and wanders off. Second, check email. There’s […]

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Crowd of Awesomeness

I’m not complaining. Keep that in mind as you read this. It’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 doesn’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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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 C  heat? With no shade? Come on! The rest of our small group had shown us their backs a while ago. I’d already guzzled most of the water by the time the trail turned to white chalk dust, […]

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Being an Inspiration

So, I did my part in Colombia to inspire people. I had a panic attack. We’d been working a tough schedule. Mornings at PARE (a home devoted to helping people get off the streets) doing English lessons and teaching the residents skills that they could use to make money. It was loud, high energy, and fun – and for a […]

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The Importance of Purple Hair

This is my avatar on a site I share with writing friends. A while back, I changed my hair from brown to purple, just having fun, and then the jokes started about the power of the hair. Well, this week the purple hair feels limp and faded. “Bad” stuff has happened, but because of my commitment to live as if […]

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New Life

The other day, I did one of my very favorite things. I signed two contracts which will bring two of my juvenile backlist novels to three European countries. There’s nothing better than knowing a book you love will have another life, more readers, more influence, and give more pleasure to readers – unless it’s having TWO BOOKS being released! I’m […]

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My Weirdness is My Strength

I had this realization a month ago. It came to me very definitely and strongly, like someone had reached into my head and manually adjusted my thinking. Then, just in case I didn’t get it or wasn’t paying enough attention or didn’t trust myself enough, someone I deeply respect told me the exact same thing about two days later. We […]

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Decisions, Decisions…

Last night at the Sooke Writers’ Collective meeting, Doni Eve of Saseenos Communications gave a presentation on marketing, and one of the many insightful topics she touched on was blogging. Regular blogging. I really should do that, I thought, as I slid down in my chair. Maybe I’ll think more about it tomorrow. This morning, to my surprise, the thought […]

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