As a non-parent, I’ve always been struck by how often parents believe that their small child’s tendencies or slight delays indicate what kind of adult they will be. I’ve seen enough difficult two-year-olds to grow into easygoing nine-year-olds, for instance, to ascribe temper tantrums to a child’s age rather than her personality. It’s clear to me that a child who
My day job is Master Writer at Hallmark Cards, and I don’t blog about it too much, but this summer has been so fun and exciting that I can’t resist. Hallmark introduced four studio collections, each one featuring the work of someone on their creative staff, and one of those collections is mine! (Bryn is a pen name, but I prefer
Most of us need a little extra writing motivation now and again. If you know my blog well, you know that I’m a big believer in positive affirmations—including writing affirmations! So here are twelve affirmations about writer’s block, creativity, and writing success, for any time you need a little extra encouragement. I guess as a writer, it’s not surprising that
This isn’t my clever idea — it is author Kelley Lenhart’s, and I borrowed it with her kind permission because I thought it was so much fun! The idea here is that you come up with an alternate title for your book as though it were a clickbait headline for an article on the internet instead. You know those headlines. I think Upworthy may
First off, “Cancer” is the worst name in astrology. Can we re-name it, please? Anyway, the Crab is a great personality type that can help you build a devoted, emotional character! [AdSense-B] Some people think of Cancer as “wimpy,” which is totally incorrect. Being emotionally open and honest is its own kind of courage, and as a couple of the
Every once in a while, on a blog or at a conference, a writer delivers the Get Tough Speech. It goes something like this: “If you’re going to be a writer, you have to deal with criticism. You have to get used to people tearing your work apart and leaving it in bleeding, charred pieces. You also have to love literally being pelted
This post contains some Amazon affiliate links. Here are some gifts for the book lovers in your life…or things you can put on your wish list to give your family and friends ideas about what to get you for your birthday or Christmas. If you want to go all out, you can combine one of these things with gift card to a