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A Letter to My Burned Out Creative Self
Inspired by a Ko-Fi challenge, May being Mental Health Awareness Month, my recent chat with Gala Russ on Writing Conversations, and my own patterns of getting burned out (which have once again resurfaced),…
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How to Craft a Compelling Character Arc: From Wounded to Warrior
Learning how to craft a compelling character arc is the thing to take your stories from readable to unputdownable. It’s not going to be your prose. It won’t be your setting or your…
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18 Must-Read Posts on Writing Craft, Story Structure, & Character Development
There’s no shortage of writing craft tips on the web. I should know—during my tenure as Writer’s Atelier’s administrative assistant, I wrote a lot of them! Something you’ll realize quickly if you get…
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Lessons Learned from Writing with 4thewords
If you told me in early 2022—just a few months before I learned these 4thewords writing lessons—that I’d one day have an 883-day writing streak, I would have said that was a weirdly…
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What is a Story Coach?
Here’s something a little embarrassing: for the longest time, I thought being a story coach wasn’t a real thing. This was back in the days when I was helping local writers I knew…
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10 Ways to Make Your Characters’ Romance Feel Meant to Be
No matter what genre you write, I’m willing to bet you’ve at least consider giving your characters a romance. It’s no mystery why—no matter how dark and twisted the plot, a love story…
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How to Organize Writing Resources and Beat Overwhelm After a Writing Summit or Conference
I love attending and speaking at writing summits and conferences, be they virtual or in-person. Learning from fellow authors and writing coaches never fails to light me up, and of course, I collect…
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16 Posts on Writing Mindset to Keep You Motivated All Year
I am writing this blog post high off of NYE—that’s New Year Energy. Everyone loves a fresh start, and I’m absolutely including myself in that. As I mentioned, my word of the year…
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Embracing Transformation: My 2025 Word of the Year and What it Means for Writers
I didn’t think I’d have a 2025 word of the year. I had a few contenders—illuminate, growth, evolve, awaken, empower—but none captured what a huge year 2025 promises to be for me, personally.…
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My New Way of Looking at the Writing Process
My mother affectionately calls me a magpie. Everywhere I went as a child, I stopped to pick up shiny things and noticed little details others missed, a trend that’s continued all the way…
