In the past few months, I’ve gotten a couple of compliments that I never used to get before. Three people referred to me as a “ray of sunshine” (that exact phrase), and two people called me a “powerhouse.” I was super pleased about both of these, which is probably why I’m writing a post about them. I’m basically just bragging here. But

“My novel is similar to another one. What do I do?” “Is my story too much like another book?” Authors worry a lot about whether their story is original enough. And I think they worry about it too much. What if someone told you they were going to write some young adult books about a boy who goes away to

Soon after I began this blog, I wrote about ways I have kept depression at bay for years. I thought people might be interested in ways to treat depression besides meds, although for some cases of depression, drugs are needed. Then I deleted the post. Like many people, I feared that if I talked about past mental health struggles, people might