Week Nine Check-in!

Hi to any and all that happen to be reading this. Thanks for stopping in and keeping track of my word count goals with me. This strict accountability has done wonders for reaching my goals each week, and this week is a prime, grade-A example of this. My goal for each week, just to recap,…

4/9/2021 — 1:15am

Dear Journal, I'm writing this in the middle of the night, sitting on my back porch. It was a long night at work, long but productive. And though I was exhausted when I got home, there was more work to be done. I had been lingering at the end of this manuscript for a couple…

Week Eight Check-in!

Hi to any and all who happen to be reading this. It's truly wonderful to have you guys along with me on this journey. Writing is such a solitary thing, it took me years before I ever considered publishing anything. Some of our writing gets so personal that we shy away from sharing it with…

3/31/2021 ‐- 10:03am

Dear Journal, Well, Laura and I needed some R&R, so we headed to La Crosse for the night. There might not be much to do around here, due to pandemic protocols, but we still enjoyed getting away. We stayed at the Charmant Hotel, which is a renovated candy factory. The service was great and the…

Week Seven Check-in!

Hi to any and all that read this. Thanks again for stopping in to examine my week in review of writing; its done wonders to keep me accountable in my goals. I truly don't think I'd have come so far without this weekly blog post to keep me writing away. I am happy to announce…

Plotting–Yay or Nay?

This past Wednesday, I wrote a journal entry about the misadventures I experienced with my first attempt at writing a novel. I don't even think the term pantser was around back then, but that was exactly what I was doing. I'm not saying I was some sort of trailblazer when it came to winging it,…

3/24/2021 — 9:15am

Dear Journal, I was talking to a friend of mine on Facebook yesterday, who happens to be another writer. The conversation was just a simple one about organizing our story plots, and how it is we achieve this. It's something a lot of us talk endlessly about. Like all other authors, I've tried so many…

3/23/2021 — 12:07pm

Dear Journal, It's been a crazy week, between work and writing. I also got the chance to celebrate St. Paddy's day with my family here in Wisconsin. The kids here never tried corned beef and cabbage, so it was a treat to cook it for them. And, with all the anxiety involved with Covid-19, I'm…

Week Six Check-in!

Hi to any and all who happen to read this. It has been a terrific sixth week in my writing odyssey, and I'm happy to report that I've hit my goal of five thousand words once again. Not only have I hit the goal, but it's the second week in a row that I've just…

How Flawed Are Your Characters?

Characters in fiction come in all kinds of disguises, from all kinds of backgrounds with varying goals. There is no right or wrong way to create our characters. With that said, there is still an ever lurking issue in the background... one which threatens the relatability of characters in books everywhere. I'm speaking about the…