Don't postpone joy. I saw this quote on a bumper sticker on January 1st, during my road trip to Virginia. It seemed like a good mantra to start off the new year. That bumper sticker was a reminder to be unafraid to pursue happiness, to embrace every day and find the joy in it, and …
Hello, friends! To be honest, this month started out rough. At the beginning of the summer (literally two months ago), I was filled with the adrenaline of starting new goals and getting things accomplished. But after a month of momentum in May, I realized just how much I was expecting of myself. And suddenly, I …
This blog is not at all what I intended. Rather than being a source of tips and help, this has become an apology blog. Every time I post it's like a new depth of "oops" that I didn't even know was possible. And while I'm confronting my failures publicly, I'm not really being very productive. …
Of all habits I had, running was possibly the most important. It wasn't that I enjoyed running or that I felt I'd benefit from the exercise. It was just the simplest way to escape.When black thoughts slipped it, when gray feelings seeped into my bones, they stirred my feet to action. I ran to shed …
At present, I'm in an Intro to Short Story class, and it's become one of my favorites this semester. One of the best aspects of the class is critique workshops. Every few weeks, we write a short story. Everyone reads each other's stories and we go over about four at a time. Now, regardless of …
Instinct is one of the most valuable tools a writer has. If you've ever been writing and just felt an unsettling sense of wrongness, it's likely your instinct kicking in to tell you there's something wrong with the story. Sometimes this feeling is so uncomfortable that you feel less motivated to write because of it. …
"Play it again," she begged. "I just played it three times," her sister protested. The younger one pleaded again, this time with her eyes. "You play it," her sister told her. "I don't know how." "Sure you do." The older sister picked the other's hands up and placed them on the piano. "You just follow …
Hello, friends! Setting is an important quality in writing. It's the background of the story. Without it, the characters would just stand against a white canvas or a greenscreen. Details about the setting are what make the characters' lives believable and attainable. It seems basic, I know. It's one of the primary necessities you learn …
Hello, friends! Sometimes, you disappoint yourself. You don't get everything done you want to or you don't get anything done at all. And that's okay. Sometimes you have to fail a few times-or really, a lot of times-to remember how good it feels to succeed. Personally, I've been disappointing myself a lot recently. I haven't …
Hello, friends! Writing, as we know, can be a challenge. Possibly the biggest writing plague that may or may not exist depending on who you ask is, of course, Writer's Block™. Oftentimes, to combat Writer's Block™, we writers seek inspiration. As defined by dictionary.com, inspiration is "an inspiring or animating action or influence". Inspiration comes …
Jayda Louise 