tl;dr Learn the Guidelines and find the Bookmark below the Backstory. # Backstory When I was in elementary school, the BOOK IT! program filled my heart with cheesy joy. Pizza Hut started the program to encourage reading in kids, and it worked like this: you read a book, told your
Another year, another Valentine’s, another monster doodle to remind you there are worse things to celebrate than a day for love. Happy Valentine’s Day. You can read the original post here if you’d like.
My fantasy poem, “One More Walk in the Stars,” appears in the January issue of Shelter of Daylight (from Hiraeth Publishing). Woot. Nothing sad about this update, except for the poem itself. And it’s only a little sad. By the end, you might call it heartwarming. Just in time
Sending stories and poems to publications often requires sending a cover letter. Here’s a template that has worked for me throughout the years. You may need to make updates based on individual publication guidelines, but this version requires the fewest for me. You can copy the template or example
My poetry publications page is growing a little brighter. Hiraeth Publishing accepted my fantasy poem, “One More Walk in the Stars,” for their Shelter of Daylight publication in January 2026. The poem follows a narrator trying to hold onto a fallen star. I’m looking forward to sharing it with
Every online journal I’ve had shares a similar post about Valentine’s Day. About time this one followed suit. Each year, I hear people say they don’t celebrate Valentine’s. Their reasons are typically one, it was started to sell greeting cards, or two, you shouldn’t need
I’ve been doodling monsters. I often doodle them to unwind. I’ll either grab a notebook and a pen or my iPad and Procreate and just start drawing. I treat the process like a first draft of writing, focusing on a smidge of an idea and seeing what lands
Have you written your letter to the Great Pumpkin this year? He only visits one sincere pumpkin patch each Halloween, so you better put your pen to paper soon, if you haven’t already. Here’s mine. The letter reads: Dear Great Pumpkin, I want to tell you about my
That time of year, again. Sharing more good ol’ goals. And, actually, if you look at the date on this post, it’s a little past that time of year, but the Post Your Goals On Time Police rarely patrol these parts, so we should be safe. I’m not
Below is a simple piece, a sort of prose poem, that I had jotted about belonging some time ago and forgot about. I recently stumbled on the writing, reread it, and liked it. Rather than keep it tucked away in digital limbo, I figured I would share it. I think
If you read my design article with Smashing Magazine, you know I’m not a huge fan of star ratings, but I like writing reviews. They remind me of what I enjoyed or wished was different, and they help me make recommendations, which I also like doing. With that in
Apparently, Squarespace has an AI feature that helps people write. Always curious to toy with new tech—even if I don’t intend to continue using it—of course I tried it. I asked it to sum up my goals from Q2. And according to AI, I spent a lot