Guest post by Amanda Muratoff I thought I would outgrow this. I thought that eventually people would attribute my success (be it personal, professional, or fitness related) to my self-discipline, hard work and commitment. But they don’t. “You’re so lucky.” I was born into a fantastic family. Loving, healthy parents. A safe neighbourhood. There is… View more
I loved school. The learning, anyway. One bonus of having returned to high school as an adult (or mature aged student as they call it here) was that I didn’t have to pretend I cared what people thought. The pressure to make friends and fit in wasn’t there. Inevitably I made connections, but if I… View more
At the end of 2020 I hope to split this blog in two: books read and books written, but this year I’m not home to record and edit a video, and besides that, I didn’t read a quarter as many books as the book bloggers I follow. So here it is: Best book of 2019:… View more
Love them or hate them, labels aren’t going away. In fact, there seem to be more now than ever before. And no, that doesn’t stop people arguing about them! The biggest problem I see with labels is that a lot of people don’t understand their function, or they use a label without checking they know… View more
Contributed by Roberta Blablanski. Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay When I started seriously writing in February of 2018, I had a specific story in mind to tell but no firm idea on how to go about it. Other than poetry, I had never attempted to write anything of significant length with fleshed-out characters and detailed plots. I… View more
Guest post contributed by Kim Beall People often ask me: “What made you want to be a writer?” I always have a hard time answering that, because I don’t think you can “be a writer.” No more than you can choose to be a tall person, or a person with blue eyes. You either are… View more
Contributed by Marion Blackwood. You are sixteen years old. Everyone is telling you who to be and how to behave but you’re still not sure what you actually want. Then, suddenly, there she is: a strong female character who can take care of herself. She doesn’t need anyone to save her and she doesn’t apologize… View more
This isn’t the blog I had planned for today; it’s the blog I needed to write. I have thoughts that need sorting, and no therapist. Truth be told, I’m terrified. I’m to the point in my current novel where I need to let people read it. I need to write the description for the back… View more
The other day someone asked me, “Why do you write for teens? You don’t have any, and you’re not one.” and of course I bungled the answer, saying something like “teens need to know they aren’t alone” or some such, because talking about my work in real life is hard. It’s a good question though…. View more
Something I think about a lot, both on a spiritual level and a “hey that’s neat” level, is interconnectedness. How every little thing in our macro and micro existences is webbed together. Every choice creates a ripple. Not a single word can ever be unsaid; though I always let my kids have a do-over if… View more
