A blog about books, the publishing world, and maintaining ultimate litness.
I originally picked up The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera because I saw the title in a used bookstore, and I was intrigued. I absolutely loved the title, and after reading it and gaining context for the title, I love it even more with all of its many layers. This novel is definitely […]
He made two great lights and called night the lesser, but we choose to embrace the weight of day’s heavier sister, reserving day for all that’s productive, claiming surface fulfillment, but letting the night be the one that’s seductive, saving what’s real for when we cannot see. The lesser light is for making […]
I am drawn to WW2 historical fiction, and the concept of The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer is great. It has both modern and historical POVs, which can be powerful if done correctly, and it has a mystery element. It sounds like it should be right up my alley, but it fell flat. […]
Let me start by saying I could be totally off base here. But it really does appear like this person you’re portraying isn’t you. It’s a little dismaying how every time I look at you, you seem to be someone new. From the truth you are straying and from me. The tricks you’ve […]
I recently published a blog about individual words that I believe society has given disproportionate power. Getting riled about a single word is a bit ridiculous, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be intentional about the words we say. And while this blog is titled “Words I’m Nitpicky About,” I’m more revolting against the definition […]
*I feel it’s very important to say this isn’t a poem, because it violates a lot of things I think are important to poetry. It’s not quite as bad as “instagram poetry,” but it’s not intentionally formed as a poem should be. So I’m calling it a creative rant of social commentary with line breaks.* […]
Dating: the standardized testing of the romantic realm, reducing the human experience into a single goal… a Relationship. Dear scorers, what do you think of my fraction? Relationship Person Under this nonexistent box on this bubble sheet, allow me to explain my answer. Here I’ve put the idea of a relationship over the person. […]
I am an eternal student of literature, and my upcoming career involves manipulating words into an influence. I believe in and admire the power of words, especially when they are strung together in an intentional, masterful way. But I also recognize that it presupposes the idea that people have to be receptive towards those words. […]
Previously, I published a post on “How NOT to Start your Novel: Common Mistakes to Avoid.” That post is helpful for optimizing the first 5 pages of your manuscript, which is important if you are querying literary agents or editors. But let’s talk about issues I often notice in the body of unpublished manuscripts. I’m […]
When Oscar Wilde first wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray, he was faced with backlash from critics who may or may not have been familiar with the term “unreliable narrator.” They accused him of writing an “immoral book.” At first, he contested that claim by saying that the moral of the book was clear; in […]