Pen and Purpose

  Hello writers! Today we’re going to be tackling the age-old question “WHY CAN’T I WRITE???” This is something that I regularly struggle with (we are simply going to ignore the fact that I have not written a blog post in a month), but I have been working through. In other words, I don’t consider myself an “expert” in defeating writer’s block, but I am a person who has had some experience. So let’s dive in! What even is writer’s block? Just to clarify in case you’ve never heard it put into words: writer’s block (in the simplest of terms) is the inability to write for a period of time. It can be caused by a number of factors including stress, lack of motivation, problems with self-esteem, or perfectionism. As always, remember to give yourself grace! If you aren’t able to write for a few days, or even weeks, you are still a writer. We all have hard times. However, this post is for those of you who aren’t feeling motivated, but want to get some words down. I’ve heard plenty of advice ...

  Alright settle in folks, this is a post I’ve been looking forward to.  First of all, I’m ranking this as a “Tidbit” on my blog. I know everyone says you’re supposed to “stay in your niche” and not “write about random stuff.” Unfortunately for them, this is my blog, so, today is just a post about something that I’ve been thinking and learning more about recently. It might not be the prettiest, or the most organized but by golly I’m going to enjoy writing it. So let’s get into it.  When you think “Bucket List” you probably think BIG and BOLD. Skydiving or taking a cruise around the world or building your dream home. That’s what I always think of too. Then this summer hit (I’m a teacher, so I get summers off to recover. It’s hard work over there!) and I realized that for an entire year, my whole life had been revolving around my job to some extent. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, but I also love having hobbies. And when you’re a first year teacher usually hobbies aren’t...

I am sure we’ve all sat down in front of a blank piece of paper or blank document on a screen at one point or another in our lives and thought “What am I even doing?” I know this has been me multiple times before! In fact, that was me right before writing this post, but that’s a story for another time. The point is, sometimes getting started is the hardest part. Figuring out what to write about is something that so many people struggle with! I feel like I always overthink what I should write about. In my mind, every project needs to be my “next big idea” that I turn into an entire novel. In reality, finding things to write about is much simpler than that. The key is not to overcomplicate it.  But how do you stop overcomplicating it you ask?? You’ve come to the right place! That’s exactly what we’re going to talk about in this short little post here. The Problem In our world today, so many things are becoming public. People are monetizing their hobbies, or posting about every inch o...

I grew up in a classic Christian household. We went to church every Sunday, prayed before meals, and regularly read the Bible together. I constantly saw my parents living out their faith, so I grew up thinking that it couldn’t be that difficult. They made it seem so easy. However, as I got older, I started to try to live up to their example too much. I decided that I needed to be the picture of a perfect Christian, and anything less meant that I wasn’t good enough. I began to set rules in place for myself - look a certain way, act a certain way, read my Bible in a certain way. It started to take a toll on me, and that’s when I realized that something was going to have to change.  The Rules The rules that I started out with didn’t seem so bad. They were disguised as good things. Reading my Bible isn’t a bad thing at all, but I decided that it didn’t count as quiet time unless I was sitting down with a pen and notebook with just the right amount of time to do an in-depth Bible study....

We live in such a busy world. Everyone is constantly fighting for your time. Even right now, you might be procrastinating by reading this article (I’ve been there… don’t even try to deny it). At the end of the day, you may be disappointed in yourself for not taking the time to right (don't worry, I’ve also been there). You’re passionate about writing, but how on earth are you going to find time to do it when it seems like you barely have time to breathe? Prioritize I know this is the most cliche piece of advice ever, but it really is true. I’m not talking about dropping out of school to pursue writing full-time (even though I know we’ve all considered it), but prioritizing it over something less important (like the ever-popular doom scroll). When I first started being consistent with writing, I knew I was going to have to step back from my social media addiction and make sure I was leaving myself time to write everyday. I’m not gonna lie to you - this was hard. Sometimes, I just wa...

For many years, since I was a little girl, I dreamed of becoming an author. I used to write stories on whatever paper I could find. However, a lot of that whimsy and creativity flew to the wayside as I began to advance in my educational journey. Essays soon began to take the place of short stories, and discussion posts overtook poems. This was a difficult transition, as I had always felt that God gave me the ability to write for a reason. Fast forward to my third year of college. In my program, this is arguably one of the busiest years. Still, I could feel the creative void then more than ever. It was at this time that I heard about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) . I immediately blew it off, thinking that I was too busy and there was no way I could make it work with my schedule anyway. A few weeks later, I found myself staring at the “Join Challenge” button on October 31st (the day before the challenge begins). With little thought involved, I signed up. After all, I could jus...