In our current culture of instant gratification, deciding to take on a project that you know will takes years to complete can feel daunting. Social media doesn't help. It makes it look like others' dreams are materializing overnight and that can certainly add to the frustration and maybe even make you want to quit. (Been there!) As most of you know, I recently published my first novel after working ten years on the story. A few weeks ago I met another writer, Julianna Lembeck, who has spent the . . .
A Magical Story of How My Planner Predicted My Future
Back in 2017, when I was frustrated that my novel, Waiting at Hayden's, had not yet been published, and I felt like I’d be an “aspiring author” forever, I went out and bought a planner for 2018. In it, instead of writing down the plans that I DID have for the year ahead, I wrote down all the plans I WANTED to have. In the summer, for instance, I wanted my novel to be published. So, I picked a day in July of 2018 and wrote down, “launch party at my parents’ house”! In September, I wanted . . .
Change Your Life by Changing Your Life Story
A year ago, before I moved to Orange County, I told my employers in Oregon that I was moving because I’d won a writing competition at Chapman University and was going back to school to work with a professor on my novels. The truth was I hadn’t actually won the competition yet. I’d only entered. But I believed that what I’d written was good enough to get me accepted and more importantly, I WANTED that to be the way my life unfolded. So I made the move BEFORE I knew the results, which helped me . . .
