By Larry Leech @LarryJLeechII Life’s greatest opportunities don’t always come wrapped in a big box with a giant bow on top. Sometimes a life-changing situation first appears as a black cloud full of bad news. When those moments arrive, you can curl into a ball and cry for all eternity.…

by Blythe Daniel @BlytheDaniel How many times have you thought, “I can’t write that book. That’s for someone else to write.” But deep down, you and I know that the best books often come out of a person’s pain. Fiction and non-fiction books can produce a well of emotions that…

by Maggie Wallem Rowe Have you ever been given a new opportunity to write or speak only to realize with dismay that you were not fully prepared to do your best?  It’s been several decades ago now, but I clearly recall how excited I was to be offered a position…

By Darlene L. Turner @darlenelturner What are the trademarks of a villain? Do they have dark, piercing eyes, a snarly grin, crooked-yellowed teeth, knobby fingers, an evil laugh? Or is there more to it than that? The antagonist can be the hardest character to write but also the most fun. How…

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson Choosing to be a writer can be a daunting prospect. It involves courage, creativity, and yes, commitment. When we’re unwilling to make that commitment, we can destine ourselves to failure before we’ve had a chance to succeed. This post isn’t meant to beat anyone up, but…

By Aaron Gansky @ADGansky You’d think deserts would have predictable weather patterns: Deathly hot, Hot, and Not as hot. But here in the High Desert of California, we enjoy (or suffer) unpredictable weather patterns. The desert, for us, is not so much a lack of weather. It’s weather at the…