It’s All About The Story

I thought it would be fun to share some of my older content in a Flashback Friday series - both writing and photography. I'll share a little about the story behind each piece as well as the story itself. Ready for the first one?  This is a poem I wrote in my early to mid-twenties called 'School of Life'. I hope you enjoy! Regret? No Nothing like that Stupidity? Well, maybe But never intended Knowledge? As ever Observations of life As to be expected But not Just wonder

Are you trying National Novel Writing Month for the first time?  With November just days away, I wanted to share some tips I've learned as an eight-time participant. While I'm not an expert, I can relate to the journey you are about to embark on. I hope these ten suggestions help you find success during the upcoming 30 days. 1. Set your writing goal.  The challenge set by NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, but you need to know what YOUR writing goal is. How are you going to use this general goal to best suit you? Ultimately, why are you doing this challenge? Do you want to... Motivate yourself to write every day? Challenge yourself by writing more than you have in a given time? Push yourself in a genre you’ve never written before? Complete your current work in progress? See if you actually want to be a writer? Start something new? Try writing from a different point of view you’ve never tried? Get back to writing after a long absence? Create a daily routine of writi...

I’ve been working on a story for almost five years now and the majority of the plot will take place in the Washington, D.C. area.  When I started writing the story, I’d never been to the U.S. Capitol, so it was a little strange to me that I was receiving the pull to that location. I’m not even into politics, which is even more strange. Like a lot of writers, I did some research online for what the area looked like. I studied famous buildings, what the culture was like, how the streets and neighborhoods were divided, and everything else I could get my hands on. But Google searches can only take you so far. I needed to get boots on the ground. In April 2019, I flew from Salt Lake City, Utah to Arlington, Virginia. Fortunately, I have family who lives in the area and they graciously allowed me to crash in their basement for a week. They were generous hosts - being my shuttle to the nearest metro station, being my tour guide, and providing a lot of entertainment. One of the first place...

I was introduced to National Novel Writing Month while I was in college. When I heard about it, I’d wondered how I’d missed this challenge. In case you are not familiar with the concept of NaNoWriMo, it is a month long writing challenge issued to individuals to write a novel in 30 days - 50,000 words in November.  To me, it’s an opportunity to encourage writers to stretch themselves, establish writing routines in ways they may not have previously thought possible, and help them connect with other writers. Over the years, I’ve participated several times with varying results. Some years I started strong at the beginning of the month and slowed to the end. Others I didn’t put the effort in that I’d planned and the project went by the wayside. And then there were years where I met and exceeded my goals. One year, I actually did Double NaNo - 100,000 words. I’ve learned a lot during my time as a NaNo writer. One tip I received has helped me in my writing, not only during this challenge...

One of my favorite types of stories is one that provides a different perspective to a tale I already know and love. Looking back on it, I wonder if that interest began with my love for this book. Most people know the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf - a house of straw, a house of sticks, a house of bricks, and a hungry wolf out to deceive the dwellers in order to find his next meal. However, this rendition tells the wolf’s side of the story and we may have had a misunderstanding. This is a book I loved as a child and still enjoy as an adult. If you haven’t yet, check this book out. There is also a filmed reading you can find here . What books you read as a child still resonate with you today?

After a long 40 hour work week and the additional hours of personal projects, Friday evening is my time to relax. I started a tradition over a year ago that after work on Friday’s I would watch a movie, relax, and have popcorn for dinner.  Tonight was no expection. Even though I’d had a productive writing evening last night and wanted to pick up where I’d left off, I needed the brain break. Today’s choice was the new live-action Mulan, which I’d been waiting for a long time to see, and some Boom Chicka Pop. I even hopped into the bath and had a soak afterward. As a storyteller, you need to know when to take a break. It’s okay to step away for a few hours and take some time for yourself. You need to mentally rest, reset, and gain some perspective. Your story will always be there in the morning. What do you do to recharge?

One of the things I love most about the company that runs my day job is they encourage us to participate in frequent trainings. This morning I attended one on the topic of success. Success looks different this year. I’m sure I’m not the only one that came into 2020 with a plan of what I was going to accomplish before the end of the year and how I was going to go about those goals. That was all derailed in March as I had to make immediate, overnight adjustments to a barrage of incoming conflicts from every side - both personally and professionally. Things didn’t start to slow down until September, which was the first time I felt like I could breathe in months. As I looked at the goals I’d set for the year, I felt defeated. Unlike previous years, I hadn’t created a list of potentially unrealistic goals, but the circumstances of pandemics, earthquakes, family challenges, the fear of being out of work, job transitions, and an unexpected move made even the simplest of tasks impossible. But ...

“You’re not always meant to know where you are heading.” - Unknown  I don’t remember the first time I knew I was going to be a writer. I can’t remember when I first held a camera in my hand. These are just things I’ve always done, like I was born to do them. My parents often tell the story of when I was young and we were scraping by that they would read the same stories to me over and over until all three of us had them memorized. One particular story my dad can quote back to my nearly verbatim all these years later, even without the book. It didn’t come out first as a story on a paper or a photo to put on the wall. It started with dress ups in my grandparents basement with my cousins, transforming the house into runways, stages, or scenes. It evolved into creating plays, stories, and songs as we got older - most of them silly, none of them our best work.  But this start instilled in me (or maybe brought out the natural parts of me) the need to find the story. I dived into rea...