When faced with a problem—or an unpleasant situation—we don’t always charge in, swords drawn. Sometimes we hesitate. We stall. We sidestep. And sometimes, we run. This is true in life, and just as true in fiction. Whether our protagonist chooses to confront the...
Endings are not always the end. Sometimes, they’re the beginning of something else. As writers, we are natural storytellers. We shape beginnings, build tension, and guide our characters toward resolution. But what truly marks the end of a story? For generations, fairy...
Nestled on my bookshelf, held together with masking tape and memory, sits The Best Loved Poems of the American People, copyright 1936. It belonged to my mother. Each Christmas Eve, she would read A Visit from St. Nick to my sister and me from those now fragile, faded...
Whenever we approach a crossroad in life, it’s a chance to choose a new beginning, but a new beginning means starting again from scratch. What we really need is the strength to move forward. There is a sense of accomplishment in looking back to see how far you’ve...
At birth, we are given a name—the one thing we carry with us for the entirety of our life. We are told, “This is your name,” and we are taught to respond to it. Some of us grow to love our name. Others wish they could change it—and some do. But over time, something...
