As long as I’ve been able to write, I’ve wanted to be a writer. But as we all know, the desire to be a writer doesn’t create books alone. I’ve started writing novels, only to give up three chapters in. I’ve hidden my writing so that the world would never see my scribbles. I had aspirations of being a famous novelist, but didn’t know how to get there.
I was in my mid-thirties when I finally published my first novel. Seven years later, and I just published my eleventh novel, and have plans to publish two more this year ……
She thought I was rude. She wasn’t wrong.
“They are sort of rude.”
That was the reason a member of my newsletter unsubscribed. They thought I was rude.
I try not to let these things get to me, but I was already wallowing in self-pity over a failed book sale campaign where I made every mistake in the world. The cost of my mistakes was only a handful of sales and a wasted opportunity, plus a bunch of questions about my self worth as an author.
And then this person rejected me because she thinks I’m rude. She doesn’t even know me!
I think the salt in the…
This. All of this. I gave my life to the newspaper for years in hopes of earning my own column, which I actually did have for a short time. And then I was reassigned to online content producer, which basically is just as you described it - writing fluff pieces for clicks. It was the kind of job any Buzzworthy fanatic would love, and it was explained to me that the paper needed these stories to get people to read the news. No. It was a way for the paper to generate artificial views so they could sell more ads…
There are a bunch of crazy symptoms that come with perimenopause, and hot flashes are only one of them
The perimenopause fairy visited me a little over a year ago, and has stepped up her game in recent months. Suddenly my temperature is no longer my own. I have hot and cold flashes, I wake up some mornings in a puddle of sweat, my mood swings and libido are on opposite ends of the pendulum depending on the time of the month, my methods of weight loss no longer work, my brain is in a severe fog… The list is endless, because every month I discover a brand new feature to this crazy stage of life.
Basically, I feel…
Some people drop 1-star reviews like tiny little bombs, blowing up author careers right and left, then give 5 stars to surprising things.
On my corkboard hanging over my desk, one of the For the Birds (my current novel in progress) related items I’ve pinned to it is an illustrated version of a 1-star Yelp review for Joshua Trees National Park that says the following:
“The only thing to do here is walk around the desert.”
The fact that people review national parks is incredibly funny. Like a review for Sequoia National Park (“There are bugs and they will bite your face.”), or Yosemite National Park (“Trees block view and there are to many gray rocks.”), …
From rats and wind to hiking and exploring, here’s our experience of camping in the desert.
Last weekend, my husband and I drove ten hours from our Northern California home to Joshua Tree in Southern California for a weekend camping trip. We’d booked our site back in November, planning this as a research trip for a scene I’m writing in my novel in progress. But when the weekend came, it was apparent our timing couldn’t have been more perfect. We just finished remodeling our whole downstairs, and the irony was that we’d already been camping in our house for three weeks. …
Get out of your head and back into the story.
If you’re a novelist, you have likely heard of NaNoWriMo, otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month. Held every November, this is when writers all around the world buckle down with a challenge of writing 50,000 words in 30 days. If you’ve never heard of NaNoWriMo, you can read about it here:
The benefits of NaNoWriMo is that it forces writers to get out of their own heads and just put pen to paper (or more realistically, fingers to keys), slamming out a story without thinking too hard about it. However, that’s also one of the biggest challenges — getting…
Are you planning to write a 50,000 word novel during National Novel Writing Month? Here’s how to reach your goal.
NaNoWriMo is coming up! All right, it’s technically coming up in November. However, it’s never too early to start thinking about NaNoWriMo, it’s only too early to start writing for NaNoWriMo.
What is NaNoWriMo?
From the website: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30. Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought fleetingly about writing a novel.
Here’s a little history on how National Novel Writing Month began.
NaNoWriMo was founded…
This is not the time.
Last night, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend shared the devastating news of the loss of their unborn baby boy, Jack. With the news, they posted photos that chronicled their pain, including one of Chrissy crying on the hospital bed, and another that showed them holding their child.
Many followers offered their support with heartfelt messages and empathy over this kind of loss. Some offered stories of their own loss.
Others ridiculed them for posting photos of their pain, their choice of filters, and accused them of seeking attention.
And then there’s the #ohchrissy hashtag that’s trending on Twitter right…
I felt sharp, fluttering kicks. Two days later, I was in the ER.
He would have been eighteen today. We would have had eighteen years of memories, including cold Saturday mornings on the soccer field, late nights finishing up school science projects, nursing heartache over love gone wrong, preparations for prom, and excitement over post-graduation plans. Through the years, he would have been one more forehead to kiss goodnight, another body to cuddle on family movie nights, and another beloved child to celebrate with cake and candles, sports trophies, and school awards nights.
Instead, he is remembered as a fairly easy pregnancy that ended unexpectedly in the seventh month, throwing me into a…
Crissi Langwell 🌱
I’m all over the place, but I try to be honest in all of it. Find my books and musings at crissilangwell.com.
