A few weeks ago, I handed off a final copy of Drake and the Fliers to some proofreaders. One of them asked if there was a story before the book, describing what took place before we join Drake in the office tower. There isn’t, but her question gave me an idea. Welcome to Part 1 of Before…
Confession: I didn’t jump onto the whole “The Walking Dead” bandwagon until recently. Next confession: It was a message series at church that got me on board. But maybe that should be their confession. I was a slow adopter of TWD because it’s such a fad – I never watched it, but all I had…
A few have asked me if I’ll be participating in NaNoWriMo this year (that’s National Novel Writing Month, for anyone scratching their heads). It’s a really big freaking deal among writerly types. So much so that not participating can make one feel left out. Alone. A little loser-ish. But everyone else is doing it, they…
Have you read a story where the character knew everything that was going on and merely went through a checklist to solve the problem? I certainly hope not, because that would be boring as hell. No matter the genre, we read stories to see how the main character emerges victoriously (or not). Does the detective…
If I were to pick a show you like and ask who your favorite character is, you would give me a name. If I were to pick five shows and ask for a favorite character across those five, would the favorite be the same? What if you picked a few favorites across all shows and…
Earlier this year, I published this post about songs featuring various forms of figurative language. It has been one of my most popular posts to date, but you wouldn’t know that from looking at it. Two people liked it, and one commented. So why do I say it’s a popular post? One thing I get…
When you dream, how do you experience the dream world? Are you yourself? Do you see things from your own eyes or from the outside? What kinds of dreams stick with you after you wake up? Do you jump out of your head and into someone else’s, mid-dream? If you were taken aback by that…
I spent this weekend on a “staycation” with my family. We drove a few hours away from our house to explore the Colorado wilds, including Great Sand Dune National Park and trekking on winding mountain roads in search of fall colors. It was glorious. Quality family time, and I had a great excuse to not…
I had the good fortune of participating in RMFW’s Colorado Gold writing conference this weekend. While I attended several productive workshops, I found a few to be especially informative, including one about sidekicks in fiction. With the permission of presenters Mario Acevedo and Warren Hammond, I’m writing this post so you can also benefit from what I…
My friend’s daughter started kindergarten a week ago, and yesterday he sent me a concerned message. Him: My kid is social and fun and outgoing, but I worry that when she gets in these classes and clubs she just sits there and isn’t making any friends or whatever. In her preschool, the two teachers loved…
Allison Maruska 