Well, hello there, friends! 2020 is halfway over and while I've been quite active on social media this is my first 2020 blog post. Here are just a few highlights & updates.

{dyed my hair with Kool-aid cuz I needed something fun & new}

Life...

Back in January, God provided me a job in a cute little town, we'll call it Mayberry. This job is absolutely perfect! I'd been frustrated before as I was submitting job applications and nothing was working out, but I know now that was because God knew the job I needed and it wasn't any of those other ones. So in "Mayberry" I'm the baker at a little restaurant and gas station. I also wait on tables, wash dishes, and restock shelves. My boss even lets me sell copies of my book there. So basically I have this perfect little job at a Hallmark location that involves my passions for baking, writing, and people. Ok, it's not quite as perfect as a Hallmark movie, but almost.

{peach & berry cobblers are the main things I bake}

In February, three of my siblings, my dad, and I went on a trip to Mexico to build a house for a family. We went along with a church group from the "Mayberry" area. It was a wonderful trip. The worship and devotional times were SO good, and we got to know a bunch of the "Mayberry" people quite well.

{the house in Mexico}

My family had known for several months that we had to move, but we weren't sure where we were going. In April I think (I don't know, that's when quarantine happened and all the months blended together) we finally moved to a house in "Mayberry". So not only did God provide us with a home, but he provided us with a home in an area where he'd already set my brother and I up with jobs, and where we already had good friends. Like what? God is so good, my friends!!! Gotta say as much as I had adjusted to city life, and it does have it's pros, I'm so happy to be back in a small-town community.

Since moving closer to the mountains, and since so many things have been shut down, I've been spent a lot more of my free time outdoors. That's included hiking, kayaking, off-roading, swimming in the lake, and just basically ADVENTURE-ing.

{this hike felt like I'd discovered another world like Narnia or something when I reached the top of the mountain}

I spend several hours a week taking care of my two youngest siblings so my mom can homeschool the rest of them. I'm constantly trying to find new fun things to do with them. Often we'll go on park playdates and our most recent field trip was going to a friend's property to see alpacas, tropical birds, and other animals.

{aren't they so precious???}

A small group of friends and I are halfway through the Old Testament Survey course offered on biblicaltraining.org . It's been so eye-opening! I've loved learning more of the historical and cultural context of the laws God gave the Israelites and just seeing through the Old Testament how incredibly important Jesus is! The New Testament makes so much more sense on the foundation of the Old Testament.

Writing...

Somehow in all of this, I've still found time to pursue what I'm passionate about- writing and publishing positive fiction. I'm definitely not consistent and sometimes I beat myself up over that, but I have to remember I'm working almost full-time and that spending time with loved ones is important too.

{my room doesn't look anything like this anymore, but I thought it was a fun 'writing' picture}

As embarrassing as it is, I have to admit that Dawn Chandler had typos in it. I finally updated the document to fix *hopefully* all of those the other day. Why did I put off those three hours of work for over a year? Ya, I have no answer... Anyways, it's great to be done with that now.

{pictures I found on Pinterest for each of my characters

Walter, Caroline, Moriah, Dawn, Kenneth, Uncle Wesley, Miss Sandy, and Rochelle}

I'm also in the late editing stages of the sequel. This week I got a copy of it in the mail for my mom to read through. When she's done I'll be sending it off to my editor! I don't have a release date, but if you wanna join my street team now is the time to start doing that :)))

Here's the unofficial blurb for book two:

Dawn Chandler has learned to love Lone Pine and feels perfectly happy there, well, almost. She spends her days with the Jenning girls chatting about an upcoming wedding and helping plan a Valentine's tea party. When Rochelle holds the only clue to a mystery Dawn and her friends are trying to solve, will Dawn learn to love her enemy?

As much as I love the Chandlers and Jennings, I'm looking forward to plotting and hopefully writing a totally new story during NaNoWriMo!

Reading...
You can click on each of the book titles to read my Goodreads reviews. These have been my favorites so far this year.
How We Rise//Brooke Riley

100 Days of Sunlight//Abbie Emmons

The House on Foster Hill//Jaime Jo Wright

Martin Legacy//Abigayle Claire

A Shred of Evidence//Kathy Herman

Health...
My motivation comes and goes quite often sadly, but I'm back to eating on the Trim Healthy Mama plan the majority of the time and doing home workouts. I'm choosing to eat healthily because I know when I do I have so much more energy and I'm a lot happier. I also wanna live a healthy life so I can serve Jesus the best I can and be the happiest most energetic human I can be for my future family, and for myself. I'm also possibly working towards becoming a licensed Trim Healthy Mama coach. It's something I'm passionate about, a way I'd love to help other people, and a job I can have even as a stay-at-home mom someday. If you wanna see what recipes and workouts I've been trying you can follow my health instagram.

ANYWAYS, update me on your life! I'd love to hear all the things. What have you been reading? Have you been doing any adventuring? Has God been teaching you anything new?

p.s. If you're not already following my author instagram go do that. I'm in the middle of one book giveaway and I have several more planned ;)))

Saturday, August 01, 2020 9 comments

Saturday, September 07, 2019 12 comments

Guest post today! I met Joshua Pior through the Twitter writing community. His blog Jeune Authors has lots of helpful posts so be sure to check those out. Have a wonderful Saturday! -Eliza Noel

photo cred//stocksnap

You’d never know it was math homework—it looked more like a sketch pad for art class. The grids that were supposed to contain balanced equations and reduced complex fractions looked a little more like the panels of a doodly comic strip, filled with characters, sketches, squiggles, and decorations.

Even though I somehow managed to get good grades in math, I made up for it by hating every moment spent doing it. My mind bounced around like an overactive collie cooped up in a closet, daring me to let it go free.

I’ll be honest. I wasn’t a star algebra student.

But I did complete several novels. So, you know. Balance.

Now that I’ve graduated high school, I can look back and see what I did (and what I should have done) to find time to write during high school. So let’s get into it: five ways to be a legit, full-time, productive writer during high school, without sacrificing school or life.

Number one!

1. Use Your Free Time for Creativity

All of it.

Wait, what about, y’know, fun?

Here’s a trick that I’ve learned. If you struggle to find time to write, this will help you tremendously.

Writing doesn’t always mean tapping away at a keyboard. Or scratching notes in a spiral-bound.

Writing, according to the dictionary, is the act of composing text for publication.

This can be done anywhere. I have a constant stream of words running through my mind at all times. When I sit down to write, all I’m doing is wrangling those words down onto a page.

This means you can be writing while watching a movie. You can be writing while you’re babysitting your nephew. And if you’re like me, you can be writing while balancing quadratic equations.

So you can still have fun in your free time! I’m not suggesting that you sequester yourself off in your bedroom with a pad and pen during every spare minute. But whatever you do in your free time, allow yourself to compose text in your mind while you do it.

It’s idea-fishing—you’re relaxed and having a fun time, but your hook is in the water, ready for a bite.

And once a decent idea runs across your mind, snatch it down on a piece of paper or your phone. Never let one get away.

2. Only Write What You’re Passionate About

Yeah, occasionally that means you will start a story and never finish it. But it also meant that writing will never be a drag. It’s better to start a hundred stories you love and never finish them than to slave away on a project that you despise ... just to boast that you always finish what you start.

Yes, I managed to finish a couple of novels in high school. But let me clarify that they weren’t good novels. Nor were they very lengthy (the longer of the two was only 24,000 words). But that didn’t matter, because I loved writing them! I just wrote what I wanted to.

You may think you do this already, but if you struggle to find time to write, then you aren’t. Guaranteed.

You need a passion project.

Sometimes this means starting something new without finishing what you’re currently working on. Horrors! That’s hardly responsible!

Well, to break it gently, writing isn’t exactly all about being responsible.

The first priority in writing is gaining experience. And sometimes that means starting a dozen projects and only finishing two. That’s a dozen ways you gained experience. A dozen ways you learned something new.

I’m not desecrating the value of finishing what you start. I’m simply dropping it down on your list of priorities. Just start writing something you love, and stop worrying about whether you finish it or not!

3. Read About Writing

The writing section was just about the only nonfiction aisle I’d ever duck into at the library. I checked out every book I could find on the art of fiction. I seriously had no clue how to write a story, so I was determined to figure it out.

Did it help my writing? Definitely.

Yes, it’s possible to improve your writing without actually writing.

Can this tip be used as an excuse to not write? Yes! But who cares? Listen, if you’re not writing, read, because that’s the next best way to improve yourself as an author. There’s nothing wrong with learning the craft … even at the expense of advancing that precious word count. It’ll be all right. You’re still a writer. On to the next tip:

4. Take a Writing Course

In my humble opinion, this is the best way to get writing done during the pressures of high school. You “legalize” it by taking a novel-writing course!

For me, that was buying the One Year Adventure Novel (not a sponsor). This credited writing course taught me so much about what makes a story a story. It also pushed me to complete a much longer adventure novel than I had ever written before, all while giving me high school credit. My voice improved; my storytelling sharpened, and I started seeing stories with new eyes. So, all good things.

The One Year Adventure Novel is just one option out of many. Really, any way that you can actually do creative writing for school is a fantastic way to balance writing with high school. Take an early college course, order a fiction-focused English curriculum, or buy a bunch of how-to-write books and figure out a way to (legitimately) count them towards your language arts credit.

5. Call Yourself A Writer

Just do it. It’s easier than you think. I can’t begin to tell you what this will do for your self-esteem, your motivation, your confidence. You write. You are a writer. You need to acknowledge this to yourself so that you stop wasting time with thoughts like, “I’m not really a writer.”

It’s okay. You can say it and mean it. The day you get published is not the day you become a writer. Take yourself seriously! Don’t feel embarrassed about what you do. Say it and smile. Even if it doesn’t feel natural at first; you’ll get used to it. And your productivity will begin to skyrocket!

And those are the five ways I figured out to be a writer during high school. It’s not a science. There’s no magic formula. But I know you can do be successful at writing, right now, as a student. You got this!

All right, time to start writing! What passion projects have got you excited right now? I’ll be hanging out in the comments section here for a while, so tell me what you’re working on right now!

Special thanks to Eliza for letting me guest post on her blog! If you haven’t already, definitely consider subscribing to her newsletter to stay in the loop and stay current with her latest posts.

Joshua Pior is a twentyish author who gets up early in the mornings to sit in Starbucks with a laptop and pretend to be a famous author. So far nobody has asked him for his autograph, but he passes the time by writing stories and blogging about it. If you want to connect with Josh and other young authors and read more of his weekly posts about writing, check out his blog at JeuneAuthors.com!

Saturday, April 27, 2019 2 comments

Hello there! I just came back from my first writer's conference two days ago. I met many amazing, talented people and came back so inspired.

Photo credit: Conference Facebook

The many things I loved:

Spending the 2 1/2 drive to Livermore visiting with my bodyguard( *cough* dad *cough*).

Hannah's also the oldest in her family and homeschooled, so we had lots in common :)

The beautiful, rustic location for the conference and the rainy weather.

Karen Barnett taught a workshop on social media. I loved chatting with her!

The fact that I showed up not knowing anyone (except for the few people I connected with briefly online) and walked away with many new friends.

The small group I got to spend time learning more about self-publishing with on the first day.

We visited a bakery after dinner.

Meeting these women in the hotel lobby then having dinner with them. We each talked about our writing projects and everyone was so encouraging.
The fact that each person I met has such a unique story to tell, whether it's non-fiction or fiction, that will touch the world in its own unique way. The fact that these writers are all striving to honor Christ gave everything such a deeper purpose too!

Lydia is so sweet and I loved spending time with her and her mom.

Watching Disney channel in the hotel room with my dad was fun. I caught a few minutes of the old Little Women too.

Photo credit: Conference Facebook

Andrea Coli entertaining us all and breaking the ice before each general session.
Visiting with other writers while having breakfast at the hotel each morning was wonderful!

Running into the author of the devotional 'Praying with Jane'...I didn't even know she was going to be there!

Meeting Robin Jones Gunn (author of the Christy Miller series) and the fact that she posted the picture of her, Lydia, Hannah and I along with such a sweet message was AMAZING.
CHAI. They had chai at the conference. The only thing missing was my chai buddy.

Having dinner with twelve other writers and meeting Sydney, another teenager, was fun. We did what I'm sure many writers do when they meet in person- stalked each other on Pinterest.

Sarah Sundin & I

Learning more about how to get to know my characters from both Robin Jones Gunn and Sarah Sundin. They each have different, but very helpful, approaches.
The workshop room names! Narnia, The Shire, Neverland, etc.

Photo credit: Conference Facebook

A fifteen-minute Coaching & Critique appointment with Marilyn Hilton. She was so helpful and encouraging!

Lydia helped me carry the 'million' books I bought xD

Overall the whole experience was wonderful! I'm a people person and being surrounded by people who share my faith and my passion for writing was a dream come true <3

Have you ever been to a writer's conference? Which one? Any questions about this one?