December 6, 2016
It’s that time of year again. The time of year where I scour the Internet for gifts, find cute stuff I want for myself, and lament my lack of limitless funds and space. Should I stop eying the Star Wars merchandise? Logically yes, but…that Darth Vader tree topper calls to me. It’s a time of great internal struggle, but rather…
November 24, 2016
When I was a child, my first real memories of Thanksgiving — memories that stood out from the annual family dinners that looked the same every year — was learning about the history of the holiday. In first grade, to be exact: back in my day, we learned that after some amount of conflict when the Pilgrims arrived, a peace…
October 28, 2016
Welcome to Coach’s Corner, where I offer some thoughts on the creative process and breaking through moments of self-doubt. One of the most common complaints I hear from writers is that after a few years of developing their skills, they’ve lost the ability to sit down and enjoy a book. It is an inevitable consequence of growing in the craft, and…
October 14, 2016
Welcome to Coach’s Corner, where I offer some thoughts on the creative process and breaking through moments of self-doubt. Do you ever have days when you’re sitting at your computer, staring at the screen, and wondering why you’re doing this yet again, on a Friday night, again? Have you thought, “This is my tenth night sitting in front of the computer.…
October 13, 2016
November is fast approaching and all writers know exactly what that means! Dishes piling up in the sink, laundry left unwashed, and crazy, manic (and sometimes panicked!) writing sprints at all hours. Also, coffee. Lots of coffee. Without going into too much detail (because you can check out all the info on their website), National Novel Writing Month runs the…
October 7, 2016
Dear Sherry, I’ve been battling with a novel manuscript for almost ten years. How do I decide whether to abandon it and consider it a learning experience, or whether I should suck it up, buttercup! — and work through it? I know how important it is to finish a manuscript to know if it’s a viable story with a decent…
October 3, 2016
People hate the Devil. No really. It’s a huge debate in horror, and it’s one I’ve had to listen to and weigh in on for the past few years as I’ve finished up two religious horror projects, both inside and outside of graduate school. And I get it. The appeal of a character who is only bad and therefore has a pretty…
August 18, 2016
Even though I wrote my first short story in the third grade, my journey as a writer actually started 10 years ago. I was a 24-year-old recent college graduate who had majored in English and minored in journalism, but I had no idea what the word “genre” meant. I had spent the last two years writing four novels about a…