Last month, I shared what I learned from the book  Grit—The Power of Passion and Perseverance  by Dr. Angela Duckworth and how it applies to the writing life. If you haven’t read that one, you might want to pop over there first and read the post,  A Book to Help Writers Persevere . I’ll wait. Done? Good. Glad you’re back. 🙂 That post was already way too… [ read more ]

When I started writing for The Write Conversation in 2010, I had just attended my very first conference—the  Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference.  In the years since, I’ve gone from conference newbie to conference regular to published author to . . . conference faculty. This year I’ll be serving on the faculty of three different conferences ranging from small and intimate to huge.… [ read more ]

The Write Conversation has been recognized by Writer’s Digest as one of the top 101 Best Writing Websites!!!  It is an absolute privilege to a be a monthly contributor to The Write Conversation. I’ve been posting on the first Thursday of the month since 2010 and the posts I share there are some of my favorite things I write each… [ read more ]

It’s that time again. August was a wild ride and the stuff I learned this month?  Pretty random.  Here goes. 1. The Olympics are my favorite. Oh my word. I get lost in the backstories of the athletes, the drama of the competition, the rivalries. Love me some rivalries. You have medals? I want you… [ read more ]

For the past several years, I’ve been writing a monthly post for my dear friend Edie Melson’s amazing blog, The Write Conversation. I send it to her a few days in advance (ok, sometimes one day in advance) and I always include these words in my email … Edit At Will. I don’t want to publish junk. I… [ read more ]

I’m doing  NaNoWriMo  this year. There are a million reasons not to, but I’m doing it anyway. Are you familiar with NaNoWriMo? NaNo, as it’s often abbreviated, stands for  National Novel Writing Month . The goal is to write a new, 50,000 word novel in thirty days.  That’s 1,667 words every day for thirty days. I’ve done it before. I’ve… [ read more ]

A few weeks ago, my family and I rode the Virginia Creeper Trail. Built on an old railroad bed, the Virginia Creeper Trail offers a unique biking experience. 17 miles. Downhill. Really. It’s an amazing ride. The scenery is stunning and the trail is open to cyclists of all experience levels. As you head… [ read more ]

There are a few things I know about myself. I don’t like them, but I know they are true. I’m a perfectionist and I don’t like feeling vulnerable. But I kept hearing about this author and researcher,  Dr. Brené Brown , who has a couple of insanely popular  TED talks  where she discusses her research.  Guess what she researches? Vulnerability,… [ read more ]

Every time I see a book on “structure” or “story” I find myself bracing for the inevitable battle. If you’ve hung around with writers for long you know why, don’t you?  Someone is about to get in an argument about THE way to write. In my mind, I see a group of literary protesters. “Structure Leads… [ read more ]

Stay in the Writing Gameby Lynn H Blackburn  @LynnHBlackburn I’d like to tell you a little story . . . I promise it is relevant . . .  Over the past few months, my family has had an unprecedented amount of illness and minor injuries. So much so that I’ve missed an insane amount of time… [ read more ]