Category: Life

• April 21, 2024

  The blog/ social media roller coaster: part one

  Today, I want to outline what I call the online “roller coaster” for artists and small businesses. Tomorrow I will discuss the things that help me ride the ups and downs in a healthy way. The roller coaster has two phases. THE RISE: social media and blogs (SM especially) are set up so that you…
• April 19, 2024

  Confession: I haven’t been reading much

  I haven’t read much fiction in months. Not since December and finishing “Jurassic Park” and “The Lost World.” I haven’t read much at all, and what I have read has been more of a spiritual bent: G.K. Chesterton, John Henry Newman. I’ve put reading fiction on the back burner. I should get back into reading…
• January 15, 2024

  Don’t forget that writing should be FUN

  I always say that the “right” writing process is the one that works. There all kinds of ways to write and prepare to write. Some are slower, some are faster. Some involve more work on the front end, some more work on the back end. But what is the “right” process for you? I think…
• December 13, 2023

  For a month “off” it’s been very busy

  I don’t know what I was thinking, hoping to consider December my month “off” because I have a break from a couple of Church programs this month until one starts up again in January. (I’m not continuing with the second one). December is DECEMBER. I have been busy with festivities all month so far, and…
• December 8, 2023

  In tough times, the arts matter more than ever

  It can tempting as a writer (and an indie author, no less, with all the battles and struggles that entails) to look at all the chaos, violence, and instability in the world and say, “Forget it. No one’s going to appreciate what I create in times like these. There is no point creating art in…
• December 7, 2023

  Thankful Thursday: grateful for childhood Christmases

  This week, as I put out my grandmother’s old Nativity Scene and made cookies from a classic family recipe, I’ve been kind of nostalgic, in a good way . . . not lamenting that the past is gone or hating the present, just remembering the past with fondness and gratitude. Some of my favorite memories…
• December 5, 2023

  I love so much about this time of year

  I love the holiday season. On a religious level, I LOVE the liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas. They are my favorites, I think (with the Octave of Easter). Advent always inspires me with such hope, such a beautiful and deep longing for Jesus. On a secular level, I love putting out my grandmother’s Nativity…
• December 4, 2023

  Riding a high . . .

  As I write this on November 30, it’s been quite a week since Sunday! Here’s just a recap of all that’s happened: I reached out to a local book store, Octavia Books, about getting book one on the shelves and possibly doing a book signing next year I sent book two off to my editor…
• November 29, 2023

  My latest small win: first sale from an Amazon ad

  As any creative type could tell you, it’s HARD out there. Even with a quality product, it’s hard to get attention, hard to get heard, and even harder to make any kind of sale at all. That’s why it’s important to celebrate small wins. Today, I’m super excited that after doing some research and setting…
• November 27, 2023

  The spiritual classics I love

  If you’re up for some spiritual reading, I thought it would be fun to list the theological/spiritual/Catholic nonfiction that has most shaped me. G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. Eternally hopeful, the master of wit, and the apostle of common sense, Chesterton is just irreplaceable. He helped convert C.S. Lewis, and he helped me…