What exactly is a drought? Or, in writer lingo, a creative dry season?

There are many definitions, and many aspects of a dry season, but for this post I'm going to assign writing dryness a simple definition.

No motivation. 

When you're in a dry season, you have no motivation to do anything. You might want to do something. You might want to write that blog post or edit that chapter, but when you sit down you just ... can't. It's like someone's stacked bricks on your arms and locked your brain in a closet under your grandmother's staircase. You want to work in a logical sense, but your spirit just isn't there. Your spirit wants to watch Netflix for three hours or curl up and sleep. Or read that book that's been on your shelf since last April. Or play Settlers of Catan with your little siblings. Or--

You get the point. When you're in a dry season, anything looks better than writing. Writing, which was once this glamorous, enticing escape from the monotonous reality we all live in, is now something you dread. It's something you try to avoid thinking about, and quite possibly hide from.

And sometimes it's something you don't think about at all, and it's not intentional. That's almost worse than avoiding it on purpose. Because you can't help it if you don't consciously think about your book often. You can go days--weeks, even--without your characters coming to mind even once, and then before you realize it, it's been a month since you even touched your third draft.

Anyone relate?

I lasted a long time before hitting major dry seasons, and I think there's a reason for that. We all write because we love it and like doing it, to some extent. But there comes a point in every writer's journey when the like of writing, the desire for it, the drive to do edits and make your mess of a novel a masterpiece becomes ... work.

Because, to some extent, that's what writing is for us writers. If you're in it for the long haul, if you're serious about your writing, if you want to craft a good story ... then it's going to take work.

And sometimes, work just isn't fun.

I don't have the answers. If I'm being honest with you all, I'm still in this dry season. I haven't touched my edits in exactly a week. Two years ago, that would never have happened. But nowadays, it's a common occurrence.

Now. Am I just trying to drudge up unpleasant facts, or is there a point to what I'm saying?

There is a point, believe it or not. The point is this: if you acknowledge that writing is hard, and that writing takes work, you won't be taken by surprise when it begins to feel like it. You won't be taken by the fear that you're doing something wrong, that you've messed up somehow because this isn't what you signed up for. You'll be ready to tackle that dry period with determination.

We'll talk more next week on what that looks like. But for now, I want you to think about your writing routines. What do you do when sitting down to write or edit? What do you think about to get yourself in the zone? How do you approach writing, and what makes you stick with a project?

I'll see you next week!

they say we are world changers
destined for greatness
we have the earth stretched before us
and the wind at our backs.
nothing is unattainable
so everything should be seized
no holding back, they say
make a difference
shine
step out and become
what you were meant to be.

they ask where we're going
what our plans are
what we've accomplished
and when we don't answer quickly
they tell us
all the things we've tried to forget
how we've got plenty of time to figure it out
(so why do you keep asking?)
how it'll all come together
and they're sure it will be soon.
there's always tomorrow
(but what if there isn't?)
and there'll be a chance to
make a difference then.

they wonder what our plans are
what we aspire to
and I think why?
their eyes watch as
I fill out those college applications
and scholarship forms
somehow all that I do and have done
it just isn't enough
it will never be enough

but this is what we think.

we say
the world is massive.
why are you urging us to be the ones to change it?
we haven't really found our place in the world yet
we're new at this thing called life.
yes, I want to be a world changer
but can you stop looking at me?
I just stepped out my door
and now
the world is out before me
the largest thing I've ever seen.
I don't know it very well yet
so what makes anyone think i'm ready
or up to changing it?
I barely know what I'm doing
I barely know who I am
much less the world.

we ask
what more do you expect of us?
what will make you happy?
tell me—
I'm dying to know—
what the perfect new adult looks like to you
and once you begin your speech
I will wait for you to stumble
over your elegant description
when you realize this person you're describing
doesn't exist
cannot exist.
you formed an image in your mind
of us being
what you never were.
why do you think we can be perfect
when you could not?
we're all people,
aren't we?

we wonder
how much time do we have
before our chance is gone?
they say we are world changers
but they say nothing about themselves.
are they too old now?
too tied down?
too busy, too involved?
has their chance to make a difference come and gone?
will ours go, too?

they say we are world changers,
but how can we change a world we don't know?
they call us to action
but how can we act before we know what to act on?
there's so much left to see and learn
there's so much left to know
and the pressure is
building building building
nothing we do feels right anymore because
we're so small
nothing's changing
why aren't I making a difference?

oh, my friends.
I've heard it said
(not by me)
and I will say it to you now;
it's okay if you only change one person's world
and it's okay if that person is you.

***

Do you have any thoughts? Have you struggled with all the well meaning questions people ask you? 

When presented with a good, once in a lifetime opportunity, I tend to do one of two things: plow into it with everything I have, or freak out and not take advantage of it.

But since the very reason this summer is special is because it's naturally stress-free, I want to take as much advantage of that as possible.

SO! Whether you're like me and just graduated and have a couple of beautiful months ahead, or whether you're still in high school or long graduated. Here are some ideas to make your summer special.

TRY SOMETHING NEW. The opportunities here are endless. Never been canoeing? Go canoeing. Never ice skated? Ice skate. (it'll feel amazing inside.) This summer, my main "new" thing is bullet journaling. I've been thinking about trying my hand at it for a while now, but I finally took the step and got a dotted journal Thursday night. So far, I'm loving it! I'm hoping to use it as a planner when I go to college.


TAKE ON A NEW PROJECT. And I don't mean something small, though a small project is perfectly fine. But I'm talking large scale here. Have a book you need to write? Write it. Need to deep clean your room, purging all your belongings, going through all your clothes, sorting books and reorganizing, etc.? Do it. And come tell me about it because that's what I'm in the midst of right now. I made a list in my bullet journal for the different parts of my room I need to tackle. Having little boxes to check off my list makes the massive project seem much more manageable!


TAKE ON AN OLD PROJECT. Maybe you have been working on a massive project--for five years, and you haven't really gotten anywhere. Now's a good a time as ever--better, actually--to rededicate yourself and give another go at it. Maybe it's a book you want to write or edit, or maybe it's a massive classic novel you've been meaning to read, or a scrap book or musical piece you've been wanting to learn to play.


CHALLENGE YOURSELF. I guess this can apply to all three suggestions above. Find something to push yourself. You've got time: take advantage of it. You might think you're too busy, but trust me. You have more time than you think. I've been reading This Changes Everything by Jaquelle Crowe, and the chapter I read yesterday talked about the different spiritual disciplines God commands of us. That really got me driven and inspired to put some of those into practice in my life. I memorized Psalm 119:11 last year, but I didn't really take the application to heart. This summer especially, but for the rest of my life, I want to be more dedicated to scripture memory, as well as reading and praying daily. As she says, these things are not just commanded of us, but they're done out of joy. And my heart is eager to serve Him!

I hope this post might have gotten your gears turning, or at least made you think about the summer ahead for you! I'm also doing Camp Nano in July, and I'm going to write another creepy middle grade novel. I'm super pumped about it. It's got forests and monsters and all that fun stuff. I can't wait to write a first draft again!

Do you have any summer plans? Any books you want to read? Write? Are you doing Camp Nano in July? Do you have any big projects you want/need to undertake?

I have a new story idea. It came out of the blue last Friday, and it already has a journal dedicated to it and a 15 page document on my computer.

The unique thing about this book idea is that I've already started writing it. I don't really think of it as a book I'm currently writing, because I'm deep in edits for The Dream Walkers and it's not even a book I was planning to write next. Yet it rose from a topic that means a lot to me.

I've been trying to pin it down. Why am I writing this book? There's an idea I've had for several years that I am crazy excited about. I have so many pages of ideas, and I've brainstormed and made pinterest boards and All the Things for it. There's another idea that I want to write for July Camp Nano this year, similar in genre to the book I wrote a year before, The House at the End of the Lane. 

Both of those ideas, and countless others, have been around much longer. They're more fleshed out, and I've had a lot of time to think about and get excited for them. In other words, I have plans for them. And the funny thing about this book is that I have absolutely no plan for. At all. I don't know if it's something I want to publish. I don't know if I'll write it this year or in twelve.

But I do know that I need this story in my life. The main character is facing some of the same issues I am, in a different sense. And she is how I'm answering a lot of pressing questions. My book writing and planning process is very God-directed. I'm waiting for Him to lead the plot along. And the other day, when I got two very vivid scenes, I decided to write them. And just like that, I've got 5k of this random book that I only got the idea for a week ago.

Seems pretty random, doesn't it?

God is so cool. He takes our plans and tosses them out the window. He has much better ideas for us, if we are willing to hear His voice.

Part of me wants to dive headfirst into this idea. The other key pieces of the plot are just out of reach. I know if I tried really hard, I could probably get to them. But I realized something. This book is different. The idea is coming in a way no other has ever come before. And, as a result, this book is special. I believe God has a plan for it, and I'm going to trust in Him and His timing.

Write in the cracks. That's what came to me as I was writing up a note to explain how this project would work. Editing DW is top priority. But this book isn't going to be forgotten.

Long story short, you can work on more than one book at once. If you get tired of editing (does anyone not get tired of editing?), have another project that you can fall back on. Something that you don't just brainstorm on. Something that you can actually write. A way to unleash that creative desire. It's beautiful. It's healthy. It's new.

Write in the cracks of your life, in the bits of time you find waiting for you. Let writing bring you joy! That's part of why we do it, after all.


Do you work on multiple books at a time, or just one? 

See, life is only getting crazier. I'm graduating. I had classes to finish up, deadlines on a number of things. I have a job, and not to mention being one of seven children, oldest of four younger siblings. Unread books sit in piles on my dresser and desk, and my younger brothers are pulling at my sleeve every other minute begging me to come play with them.

My hands are filled to bursting, and it's nearly impossible to keep things from slipping through my fingers. I've been wondering for a while what would happen here at the blog after I left for college. It's my hope to keep posting weekly, but it might not happen. I don't know yet.

But I do know one thing. The past few weeks have taught me that if you want to do something, you have to make a decision to do that thing. (Yes, I know. I could have used better wording but you get the meaning.)

Another word for that would be discipline. It takes discipline to do things you don't necessarily want to do in the moment. But you have to decide beforehand that you're going to do those specific things. Otherwise, your motivation will be like coffee brewed through already used week-old grounds. You're left staring at brown tinted, mold flaked hot water and expecting yourself to drink it.

That's not fair for anyone.

I want to note really quickly that discipline is done out of love. Discipline does not equal beating yourself up when you make a mistake or bashing yourself and treating yourself horridly. That's punishment, and that's quite a different matter. Discipline is self control. It's commitment.

Discipline has a partner, and that would be called motivation. It's that warm gooey feeling in your bones that helps you get stuff done, come up with ideas, and be generally productive.

But while we can discipline ourselves with relative ease, such is not the case with motivation. So how do we get motivation? How do we fix the lack of motivation syndrome? This is something people have been wondering for ages, and since no one else has come up with a solid answer, I think it's a somewhat safe assumption to make that there is no fixed cure. But if we look at what motivation is, that might give us some ideas.



This is key. Feelings cannot be forced. They come and go as they please. Motivation is as tricky as any.

Just like seeing your best friend fills you with happiness, or watching March of the Penguins makes you cry, motivation can be triggered in you. You just have to find the right materials to produce that response. Some people make to-do lists. Others use a reward system. Some use both. Find what works for you, what gets you fired up to write or blog or edit or study or whatever it is. Find what helps get your motivation churning and use that to help you out in low spots.

When none of your tactics are working to create motivation, when nothing seems to fill you up and make you want to do the thing you're faced with, discipline comes to the rescue. You've decided to write that chapter, and by golly you're going to do it. It doesn't matter if your eyes are drooping and you really want to pick up that new book that just came in the mail. You made a choice to write a chapter. And what's more, you said you were going to do it. On paper, out loud, to a friend, whatever it was. You are committed. It takes discipline to keep to commitments, but if you do keep to them, you'll find that it's not just your writing that improves. Your attitude will. You will. You as a person will develop a stronger character and a good dependable backbone.

But you want to know a secret? Sometimes, if you simply do the Thing, if you feel like you really don't want to do it and can barely manage to work up the willpower, holding yourself accountable and doing it often brings that feeling of motivation back. It's not always the case, but you never know when simply doing the Thing instead of stalling will stir your love for it again.

I'm making a commitment to post when I can, and even though this week is going to be just as crazy as the last, I'm not going to chicken out. I'll see you guys next week :)

Do you struggle to motivate yourself? What are some methods you use to inspire motivation in yourself?

I will first point out that there is newness to be had. Just not pure originality. But we can take mixtures and combinations and throw them together and make something wild and beautiful. We don't get annoyed with people for not being "new". People are people, and while we all have so much in common, and every trait you have can be found in someone else somewhere on this planet, that doesn't make those people any less unique and interesting. What matters is the combination of known things in an individual person (or story), and how those combine to create something in and of itself, which could be thought of as new.

But I want to focus on the question I mentioned above. Why do we write, and what should our writing contain, if not newness?

The short answer? Truth.

We write to show the truth about the reality we live in. About human nature and conflict and pain and happiness and joy and love and sorrow and grief. We write to explore these concepts that everyone knows and everyone faces at some point in their lives.

We write to explore the deeper meanings of what we already know. Where did this idea come from, anyway, that says our writing has to be full of new things? If we could create something completely new, it wouldn't be as amazing as you might think because people wouldn't even be able to relate to it. They might find it wild and interesting and highly entertaining, but it wouldn't last because they wouldn't be able to connect to it. And if we can't connect, it doesn't really have true meaning.

The best stories are great because they contain the rawest forms of things we know. And those things resonate with us.

That's what story telling is really about. It's about writing relatable stories that touch our hearts. It's about writing the truth to issues we face. It's about doing the opposite of what we often feel we need to do. It's about plunging headlong into what we know and experience every day, and confronting the truth in those things.

Where the newness comes in is with how we approach it. And the opportunities to do that are quite endless. The combination of truths to explore and the ways to explore them are limitless. Don't stress about not being "original" enough. If you have a message pumping through your veins, it'll find a way to make itself heard. Truth has a hard time keeping quiet.

Do you struggle with writing new ideas? What are some common truths that you explore in writing? 

I've been struggling with editing The Dream Walkers all year. From January to now, I've been a bit unsure of how to tackle edits. I've asked myself stupid, panicked questions in moments of crisis like, "How do you even edit?" and "What is this book even supposed to look like?"

But on this car ride, after this week of broken down buses and stomach bugs and skewed plans, somehow it was after all this that I sat down and-squished legs and all-began to edit like I have never edited before.

Not to say I did it perfectly. Not to say my words were flawless, and that my book is now a perfect masterpiece.

What I'm saying is that something in my mind shifted. I had little to no warning. Only months of endless frustration and irritation. Months of feeling like I was getting nowhere, and making next to no progress in my writing.

Do you want to know a secret?

Even though I wasn't editing, even though I've only edited 20k since January, I wasn't making no progress. That sounds crazy, but it's true. Progress was being made. It was just progress I couldn't see. The brain is an amazing creation, and while I couldn't see what was going on, my mind was working these past three months, trying to solve this puzzle, trying to fix this problem. While I was helpless and beginning to lose confidence and hope, my mind was determined to save the day.

I've read a lot of blog posts over the past three months. I've looked up motivational quotes on Pinterest to try to get me "into writing" again. I've written what I hoped were motivational blog posts, as much a message to myself as it was to you all. I've made to-do lists. I've sat my tushie down and forced myself to stare at my document.

But none of that seemed to work. I didn't make much progress at all, and it was agonizing.

Yet, through all of that, I was learning. Because the best teacher in the world is not your favorite blog. It's not the best selling craft book you just finished reading that changed your life, and it's not your role model's "for writers" page on their website.

No. The best teacher is you. I know that may be hard to believe, but it's true. There are some lessons we must learn, and we are the only ones who can teach them. And do you know why?

Because people are unique. Every person on this planet is different than the other. None of us are the same, and so it only makes sense that we don't all learn the same either. But our brains know how to teach us lessons. They study the world around us, and they think about things even when we're not aware. They do a lot of work for us, helping us come to a better understanding of the world and ourselves.

My brain has finally figured out how I, personally, need to go about editing my book. Not only that, but it's given me the right mindset to do that. Again, I'm not saying I've got everything figured out and that my words are now sparkling and perfect.

I'm saying that I know where to start, and I know how to make progress on my story. I know where I'm going with it, and I know (at least, I think I know) how to get there. I'll still have rough days of staring at the screen of endless black text, but they're no longer the normal. And that's what I want to share with you. It's not just me. We're all teaching ourselves lessons every day, and a lot of those lessons are being learned unconsciously. As crazy as it sounds, you are working out puzzles 24/7. And soon, something is going to click.

If you've been stuck, keep pushing. If you stop trying, you'll never know if you've figured out the answer to your problems. I wouldn't have known if I hadn't pulled out my laptop and started trying to edit again.

Be persistent in your writing journey, and be patient. You learn the most about writing by actually writing. You learn the most about editing by actually editing. The key to writing clicked in my mind about three years after I started writing. The key to editing has taken significantly longer, but I've now reached a point where I think I'll be able to make headway.

Don't give up. Keep editing, and soon your brain will fix the problem, and you'll start making progress again. Just keep pressing on! You've got this.

Have you been in a rut this year, or has your book been going along smoothly? Are you writing or editing? What stage of the process are you in with your WIP, and what have you been learning from it recently? 

Storytime!

We were three hours away from home when our bus broke down. Eighty-six sixth through twelveth graders piled into a YMCA and hung out in a half court of a gym for six and a half hours while waiting for the bus to be repaired. When it finally was, we set off again, far behind schedule. At eleven in the night, still a good four hours from our destination, we hit a snowstorm.

I had a seat on the bus all to myself. I was relatively comfortable, curled up with my fuzzy blanket and reading The Two Towers, the noise of the other kids toned out in my mind. But when our youth minister got up, the chatting died down and I snapped away from the great fields of Rohan. I realized we had pulled over and were parked in a Walmart parking lot. Go figure.

"We've made about eleven miles progress in the last two hours," he announced. "And it's one o'clock in the morning. We physically cannot make it to DC tonight. We will not be at Church tomorrow because we physically cannot make it there. We've called ahead and they understand. Everyone is exhausted. We'll be sleeping on the bus tonight. Pull down your window shades and makes yourselves comfortable. Try to get some rest."

I watched as our ever humorous youth minister turned around and walked back to the front of the bus. I sat, not sure what to believe. Was he serious? He rarely told the time of day without messing with us. But the longer we all sat, the shock and disbelief palpable in the air, we began to realize that he was indeed serious. Window shades began to come down. A silence settled over the bus. And so it was that I slept on a bus with my youth group of 84, not to mention the ten or so adults that were chaperoning the trip.

As my cousin later said, at least we know that Walmart will always have our back.

The story doesn't end there, but I'll cut my story time and summarize. We got up that morning and went into the Walmart to get our breakfasts. As we got back on the busses, the bus that had broken down the previous day shut down again as we were leaving the parking lot.

So the eighty-four of us spent half the day in Walmart. We rented minivans and eventually did make it to DC that evening. But the next day, a stomach bug broke out and took down exactly 40% of our group. It was violent vomiting, but thankfully it only lasted about 24 hours before the effected person was better.

Nothing has gone as planned this quarter. It's hard to share just one story, but I think that statement applies to just about everything that's happened. Between the bus breaking down (it broke down again after spending several days in the shop, so we had to leave it and take the minivans back home) and the stomach bug breaking out, forcing us to change our plans, my trip to Washington DC was quite a ride.

*I also went to Guatemala for a week long medical missions trip

(check out the chocolate!)

*I got to see Priscilla Shrier in person and sat in on a talk show she conducted

*I decided at last what college I will be attending in the fall, and what major I will be pursuing

Life has been crazy, and it's impossible to sum everything up here. It's already getting long, so I'll move on, but I will say that I am going to pursue a major in English, and I'm thrilled to see what path God leads me on with that degree!

When getting started with something, one of the most important things to do is to ask questions. Keep asking and asking questions. Even if some of them sound stupid, ask them anyway. Don't leave any stone unturned, or any morsel of an idea forgotten.

This is especially important with character creation. Think of creating a character like you would meeting a new person that you're going to have to be with a lot, like a coworker, business partner, or roommate. You'll ask lots of questions to get to know them.

Most of us know the basics to creating a character. But there does come another step. Once you get to know your character a little, there are three questions that need to be asked and answered.

Why are they in this book? I don't just mean are they the main character, antagonist, best friend, etc. I mean what is their purpose in this book? What are they there for? What made you choose them to be the main character, antagonist, best friend, etc.?

If a character doesn't have a clear purpose in the story, they won't last long. They'll likely either end up disappearing pretty early on, or they'll only come in as a convenient plot device. Figure out why they're in the story

Motivation is integral to getting your story moving. When you know what motivates your character, you'll be able to see where they want to take the story. It'll help your character take control of the plot, and write their own story. And if you want something real,


Everyone has baggage. Some have more than others. What does your character carry? What has s/he been through? Knowing the answers to these questions will give you the foundation of why your character is the way s/he is, and will give you a beginning of a backstory for them. It will help you understand everything about them.



Sorry this post was so short! I will not be posting next week due to my trip, so I'll see you again on the 24th!


Where do you start with creating characters? 

(QUICK NOTE that Katie posted recently about her first book, and I couldn't help but think of her as I typed this up!)


The advantages to writing middle grade when you are in the middle grade is that you are the audience. And, more so than ever at that age, you write what you want to read.

The way I word things. The way I write description. The way I rationalize and think things through. The way I plan. The way I have my characters notice and observe and react to things. It's all so childish. And, for my purposes now, that's actually a good thing because it lets me know what a real eleven year old would think. It lets me know what kind of things they might notice, and how they might react to getting kidnapped or finding out they have magical powers. Even if the character's reaction isn't done well, you can still get a glimpse of the reaction in what happens.


There's nothing like looking back at your work and relishing in just how horrible it is. The writing is jerky, the plot is wild and often too coincidental. The characters are flat, they learn too fast, they all sound the same in dialogue ... and there's not really anything unique. There might be some good ideas, but the writing is so dull, that doesn't matter. There's nothing that makes your book stand out.

And then you look at your WIP. Maybe you're still in the first book stage, but I promise you that if you keep writing, and if you write a lot, you will get better. And, someday, you'll even get good.

It's so satisfying now to look back and see how different my first book and my fifth book really are. It took years of writing, hundreds of thousands of words, but I finally have something I can work on, something I know I can be proud of someday. I know what the mistakes are in my novel, and (for the most part) how to fix them.

I've come so far. And, whether you've been writing a week, a month, a year, five years, ten years--you've come from somewhere too. We all started, and we've all grown from that moment. So look back and let yourself appreciate just how bad you were at writing. It makes what you're doing now even more incredible. 


Writing has a way of slipping the hard things out of you. The fears and doubts, the insecurities. It reaches into our minds and is just small enough to grab hold of it, and it weaves it into your words. It's sometimes really hard to spot. I didn't realize it for years. I knew writing helped me emotionally, but I wasn't sure how or why. I just thought it was an escape.

But writing isn't really an escape. Because, in writing, we confront our deepest fears, our biggest questions, our deepest insecurities, and we line them up for all to see. It takes a discerning eye--often a writer's eye--to see these hidden gems. But they're what makes stories matter.

They're your theme.

If you're anything like me,  you might have started out thinking you didn't write theme into your books. I had somehow come across a writing "tip" early on in my journey that basically said, "Don't lay out your theme or you'll be preaching." At the time, I only had a vague idea of what theme was, so my only thought was, "Oh dear. I better not do that." So for several years after, I never read any articles on the importance of theme. I thought they were all lies.

*sighs at young self*

Theme is so important. And I firmly believe that there is theme in every story ever written. It just takes a discerning eye to find.

Why is there theme in every story ever written?

Because in every story, we have a character. And a character, in a good story, must face something.

That's where theme comes from. It can be simple, or it can be complex. It can be countless things. We can mean to tell readers this encouraging information, or we can just ignore the fact that we're even writing theme.

But when I look at the first book I wrote, and when I study my characters, I find a girl who just wants to matter, and realizes that even though she felt like she didn't, she did. I see themes of what love should look like, of friendship and bravery and hope and trust. I didn't mean to put any of this into my story. It wasn't my intention when writing about a very special girl to make others feel hopeful and special themselves. And yet, as I read this book, that's the gentle message it sends. That you are important, and you matter. Even if the whole world is oblivious to your existence, that doesn't mean you don't have a place in it. Even if you feel useless and insignificant, that doesn't mean you are. You're here for a reason, and you just have to be brave enough to step out and find that reason.

These are all things I was unintentionally saying in my first book. They were things I, as a young girl, needed to hear myself. And I can only imagine how many other children out there need those kinds of messages. How many times have we seen The Chosen One trope in fiction? It's prominent for a reason.

When you look at your old writing, you're looking at a treasure map. It might take a little hunting and a little work, but once you find the key, you'll be swimming in the buried treasure of authentic children and the messages they need to hear most.


How long ago did you write your first book? Are you still writing your first book? Have you broken out of the everything-i-write-is-horrible stage, or are you still struggling to find your voice? (Don't give up! It just takes time, and a lot of writing.)

I looked through all my posts and I just have to say ... I think it's super cool that I've now been blogging for two years. You know why? It doesn't feel like two years. When I look at each post's title, I remember writing it. I remember what my thoughts were behind it, why I chose to write that post.

Which makes me think about blogging in general. Blogging is awesome, guys. We have this chance to share our thoughts and hopes and ideas with the world. We can tell others revelations we have, things that help carry us through life, and we will be able to look back years later and see exactly when we posted it and read it all over again.

Isn't that just so cool?

So this post is (kind of. I mean, bloggers can read it too. I won't kick you out ;P ) for you guys who don't have blogs.

Get a blog.

As I reflect on what was going through my mind when I started Stan, let me share with you some advice I took when starting, and am very grateful I heeded.


Blogging is not the kind of thing you should just wake up one day and decide to do. It takes time and thought. It takes intentionality and dedication. I spent months thinking up my blog. I didn't start it until I knew the perfect title for it, what my first five-ish posts were going to be, and what I wanted to say, overall, with the blog.

Let me explain why that last one is so important.

If you don't know what your underlying message is--the core reason behind why you're doing what you're doing--you're not going to last long. You might post those five posts you planned when you started, and maybe even three more after that. But you'll eventually stop posting and fall off the blogging train.

You have to know why your blog matters to you. Because blogging takes time, and we only make time for the things that matter to us.


This is probably my top piece of advice for new/wannabe bloggers. Not everyone posts on a schedule, but I know personally I appreciate it when a blogger sticks to some sort of consistency. Not only does it give readers knowledge of when to stop by your blog, but it also gives them a date to look forward to, and it gives you motivation.

If you start, and have great ideas, but just say, "I'll post whenever I feel like it" you could likely go weeks without posting a single word. Life happens, things come up. If you don't have a date you have told yourself you'd post on, then you'll have no reason to post. When you push off posting for a day, there's nothing to stop you from pushing it off till the next day. And the next. And the next ...

If you know when you're going to post and stick to it, you won't miss often. You'll keep up consistency. And it might sound hard (I thought it would be nearly impossible) but it is so satisfying to commit to something. You're in charge. You have the power. But one good thing is, you're blogging. Readers will look forward to those weekly posts. And if you don't post, they'll keep you accountable.


I still remember those first few posts I put up. I would stare at that publish button, gnawing on my lip, wondering if I should risk it. Would anyone even read this little blog? Why would they? No one cares about the words of an insignificant little sixteen year old.

But they did. I'm almost at 100 followers on Google now! *cheers for you all and throws coffee beans and confetti* Stan has been slow going, but he's grown steadily. And I honestly don't think he would have grown if I hadn't kept posting.

Running a blot takes a certain amount of guts. You have to surrender part of yourself. You have to let go of perfection: perfect writing, perfect formatting, etc. In order to post regularly, you can't spend hours upon hours tweaking every post to utter perfection. That would be awesome--you guys deserve the best!--but it's unrealistic.

So you have to dust yourself off and say, "I'm going to post this now, and I'm going to be proud of it." And so you do the thing, and you lift your chin. Because you put your words out there for the world to see, and that my friend is absolutely epic.


I hope you enjoyed my little blogger tips! I may have been blogging for two years now, but I still have so much to learn. 'Tis the beauty of writing, I suppose.

February is a special month for me. Not only is it Stan's birthday, but it's also the anniversary of when I started writing novels. Next week I'll talk about what I've learned from the last seven years of writing. Stay tuned!

Do you have a blog? What is your number one tip for bloggers, new and old? If you don't have a blog, are you considering getting one? *cough* do iiiit *cough*