Today I have the privilege of asking author Andrea Chmelik, who describes herself as a writer, speaker, activist, wine enthusiast, pickle elitist, and cat lover. I’ve asked her some questions about her writing and her writing process and she’s given … Continue reading
Nature can be one of the best idea creators. Here’s a photo of the sky that I took one day: is it daytime or night time? Is that the sun or the moon? Where is the red coming from? Is … Continue reading
When we think of a place, what most easily comes to mind is what we see. When asked to describe a particular place—an office building, for example—most of us will concentrate on what the building looks like: how big it … Continue reading
Sometimes we see weird things along our way and wonder what was going on, how things got that way. Like the following photo of signs about road work. Why did these contradictory signs end up so close together? What does … Continue reading
Sometimes when we enter the “zone,” things pop up in our stories that we don’t quite know what to do with. They skew the story we’ve planned into uncharted territory. Being able to allow the story to unfold on its … Continue reading
We’ve all felt misunderstood at times. What a struggle it was to try to make others see us, see who we are, and understand how we think. The same goes for our characters. Not everyone will get along, not everyone … Continue reading
An unexpected event can throw our character for a loop. Sometimes it can even trigger a subplot in a story. Given the time of year, there’s a lot of emotion that can come out of the unexpected. Here’s an unexpected … Continue reading
I’m always amazed at what different writers do with the same opening line. Here’s an opening to a flash-fiction piece I wrote in one of my classes. My story has an eerie quality about it. What will you do with … Continue reading