Musings of a Sparrow….
My thoughts about God, writing, and life in general….
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My Reading List List for June/July 2023
In a previous blog post, I mentioned a list of books I intend to read by the end of May 2023. In today's post, I will share the books I want to read once I’ve completed the ones on my April/May 2023 list. If I don’t complete this list before the end of May, I’ll carry them over into June and July…
Short Story: Trash
It’s a beautiful day today, but come rain or shine, Sunflower Miller can be found picking up a pop bottle and putting it in the blue recycling bag she carries, tied to a belt loop on one hip, then picking up a paper drink cup and placing it in the black trash bag tied to the other hip. She’s developed a rhythm after hours upon hours of practice. All on her own, she can clean an entire schoolyard in a day. The best pickers among her followers take at least two. With the help she’s gained over the past six weeks, the schoolyards of seven central Alberta villages and towns have been cleaned….
Books That Have Had a Profound Impact on Me
As I described in previous posts, I went five years without reading more than a couple of books in that time as I was so busy and focused on writing my manuscript, Ashes of Injustice, that I didn’t devote time to my reading—a mistake I am now endeavoring to rectify. However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t done any reading in my life. I’d always been an avid reader before focusing on my manuscript and going as long as I did recently without devouring books was an anomaly…
Short Story: The Tree
His drive home from seeing the specialist in Edmonton takes Matt Campbell past the old hobby farm he grew up on. His older sister, Michelle, and her family live there now after taking over the place when their mother, Carol, died ten years past. Matt hasn’t been back to see his sister or his old stomping grounds since his mother’s funeral….
Short Story: War Within
A short story about a war inside the heart of a young woman searching for belonging.
My Reading List For April/May 2023
Welcome to my blog! One of the things I have discovered as I’ve spent my life writing fiction and studying the craft (mostly self-educated, but still) is that it’s vitally important for a person serious about being a writer and aspiring to become a published author to read. You can’t grow as a writer if you're not a reader. The two are inexorably intertwined. Much to my chagrin, I have been so absorbed with writing my manuscripts over the past five years that I’ve done very little reading, much to my detriment.
Creating a Designated Writing Space
On my journey as a writer and aspiring author, I've learned that it’s essential to have a dedicated writing space—a place where the only thing I do there is write, so it’s designed to inspire me and help me focus. Without my dedicated writing space, I’m easily distracted and lose motivation and inspiration. In my room, I limit the things that distract me but include those that feed and comfort my muse….
My Current Writing Project
Since reading my first novel anthology, The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis as a child, I have wanted to be a published author. Traumatic life experiences in the following years negatively influenced my self-confidence. They caused me to doubt the worth of my writing, so I did nothing with the works of fiction I produced, hiding them from others. Through the years, I’ve written several full-length manuscripts of 50000 words or more, some of which were fanfiction and others original compositions, but I didn’t dare to move beyond writing the first drafts. I never allowed anyone to read my writing until I began writing fanfiction online in the mid-to-late 2000s (more about that in a future blog post)….
Writing Style: Making Yours Effective and Unique
I repeatedly hear as I study how to become a writer and how to write a novel that one of the most important aspects of becoming an author is to discover and develop one’s writing style. This has intimidated me because I find it difficult to describe my style to someone else, but I can see how it differs from that of authors whose works I’ve read and loved….
9 Tips for an Effective Morning Routine
I’ve found time and time again that I get the most done on the days I follow a set morning routine. On days when I don’t follow a routine, I tend to flounder, and my productivity drops dramatically. I haven’t always had a morning routine. I didn’t have a morning for many years, especially during periods of my life where I allowed my depression to rule rather than doing everything I could to battle it. Life is better when you have a morning as part of it….
