I Reread and Critiqued My Old Self-Published Novel!

I recently reread my old, 2019 self-published novel, A Silence in the Shadows. And I thought it'd be a fun idea to roast it in a blog post! 😂 Now don't get me wrong, self-publishing this novel was such an awesome experience, especially for a 14-year-old kid who'd dreamed of holding his own novel in …

5 Easy Ways to Receive More Blog Traffic

Have you felt like you put a lot of effort into your blog, and yet every time you check your email to see whether or not someone left a like and comment on your new post, nothing shows up in your inbox? Or perhaps when you tap on the statistics page you stare in disappointment …

Reorganizing My Bookshelves for the First Time!

Ever since we moved into a new house a few years ago, my only thought was to make sure all of my books would fit in my room. Miraculously, with the help of 3 large bookshelves and another small one, they fit! And I've kind of let them arrange themselves for the most part. They …

The Key to Becoming a Strong Writer

When some people start writing, their intention is to have a little fun, create a cool story to pass around to family and friends, then quit. And that's perfectly fine! However, others fall in love with the process, the impact of what a truly well-told story can have, and want to create stories for people …

Stay Here: a summer poem

Can I stay here? Where the grass meets my fingertips, and God feels so near. ~ Where I close my eyes and breathe until my lungs hurt, filled with a lazy summer day’s air, clean and pert, and the whispering wind tugs and plays with my shirt. ~ Can I stay here? Where I smell …

3 Ways to Shorten Your Novel

When I was eleven, I sat down at our family computer armed with nothing but an empty document in front of me and not a single outlined sentence to be seen, determined to begin (and eventually complete) my very first full-length, 50,000+ word novel. And I did it! The finished first draft was officially 50,026 …

My 18th Birthday + 10 Years of Writing!

I don't know the exact day I picked up the pen for the first time and wrote my first story. However, I can strongly remember that when I was eight years old I read both The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia series, and also wrote one of my most memorable …

The One Thing Your Characters are Missing

It can be hard to pinpoint the most difficult piece of writing. From descriptions, to editing, to world-building, to dialogue, to good prose in general, everyone has their own struggles and different pieces of writing they need to improve on. I certainly have quite a few! However, I think it's safe for me to say …

I Tried Writing the Same Poem in 3 Styles!

Well hello there, dear reader! I have a very fun blog post for you today. Assuming you read the title, you know exactly where this is going! I tried writing the SAME POEM in 3 DIFFERENT, UNIQUE STYLES! I can't remember how I originally got this idea, but as soon as I thought about it …

3 Fun Challenges to Improve as a Writer

Writing is a hard hobby...or career...or school project. I don't judge why you're writing--it's hard no matter why that pen (or keyboard) is in your hands and that empty piece of paper (or writing document) is sitting empty in front of you! 😜 But learning how to write, or putting in the work to improve …