Sunrise over the Lake I wanted to go Shakespearean "To Outline or Not to Outline" but I think the sunrise analogy is more spot on. Here me out! The sunrise is, in theory, the beginning of your day. The time before you have a massive to-do list, the time when you can maybe just sit, think, relax. And, in exactly that way, the outline is the beginning of your novel. It's right after you've had an idea or the spark of an idea, and when all you wanna do is jump into that idea and

Phantastes by George MacDonald I started off my year of reading by deciding to read one of the books that inspired the books that had such a huge impact on me. Especially The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Lord of the Rings books. After the first few pages, it was already so clear where C.S. Lewis may have gotten the idea of stepping into a Faerie world running alongside ours but completely strange and foreign. And, many of the themes (of love, of good, of evil) not

It's officially a new year, which can be daunting when you've spent the past two weeks with hardly a clue as to what day it is, what time it is or whether those things matter at all. If those things really don't matter, then you can eat dessert at any time without needing to think of more practical things like a proper meal first. Or mulling the Big Things like what you're doing with your life in The New Year. There's a lot of pressure to start something (that book you're alw

'Tis the season for wondering where the sun is, subbing dinner for chocolate and wine, a seemingly endless amount of gatherings and neglecting all your hard cultivated habits from the 11 months prior. Which includes writing. How could it not? The frivolous little stories you fritter away at are the easiest thing to ignore when you can't possibly do everything at once all month. You are NOT a machine. It would be so easy to let AI write this, you think during a particularly w

Holy Door St. Peter's Rome Does any fantasy book ever capture that complete magic of the first time you read about a world that ran alongside yours? There's nothing quite like the idea that you can climb into a wardrobe or tap a brick in an alleyway and wind up in a magical world that runs parallel to yours. As a plot device, it packs a lot of magical punch this way. Because you, as a reader, get to discover the world as your beloved characters do. Those were my favorite book

Handstand by the Lake because AI can't I know, "What is art?" is a pretty big question with a lot of answers. And, GENERALLY (please do not list every other example), the only answer that is wrong is AI. AI is NOT art. AI IS NOT ART. Whether I capitalize or scream it, the AI is listening, and I'm cool with it knowing it's not art. Art is humanity. It is experience. Combining those two, it is the HUMAN EXPERIENCE. It's reading words written by Jane Austen in 1798 (though not p

Alchemy of Secrets Book by Stephanie Garber with a Pumpkin Coffee overlooking a park There are plenty of poets (Percy Shelley, Mary Oliver, John Keats!) who beautifully describe the feeling of Fall. Not to mention all of those must watch comfort Fall movies and shows. The annual Gilmore Girls pilgramage, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vampire Diaries, Twilight, Stepmom, You've Got Mail, Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic...the list is endless. This year, there is a new Fall book to add

Lula's first beach day in Michigan ...Like a bottle of wine. ...Like a handful of sand. ...But never like writing a book. I don't know...

Diving into the Lake Hi Friends! It's been...a while. But also, Summer finally came to Chicago, so I've been soaking up as much Lake time...

Sparkling water We all wish writing a book was an activity that flowed perfectly from our heads into words, sentences, paragraphs that...

Ice Cream Sundae As most of my stories begin, I was talking to my sister about feeling overwhelmed by all the things that have to get...

Beatrix didn't know how it could be Spring Break but also stiill Winter. Of course, she didn't long for sunny days and opressive heat....

Sunrise over Lake Michigan Wow, it's been little while since my last post! Before I get into updates on the books, let me assure you for...

Swimming in Lake Zurich with a Swan Plot holes are the bane of every writer's existence. And yet, they are always going to happen unless...

Harvest Moonlight on Lake Michigan, overlooking a golf course. The Moon, Mermaids and Books are three of my favorite things. And my first...