Wild Magic. Wild Stories. Wild Souls.
I’ve been obsessed with storms lately. I blame my current WIP, White Wolf, Red Cloak, a contemporary fairy tale retelling that takes place in the Great Smoky Mountains in the middle of what the media has dubbed the Storm of the Century, a wicked blizzard that leaves the characters snowbound in a log cabin. As […]
Read MoreI thought I’d kick off a new week—or end an old one—with a list of some of my favorite writing quotes. Feel free to add your favorites in the comments section. (Quote images made at Quozio.) Sunday ROW80 check-in: Writing: Finish a second draft of my novella “Good Old-Fashioned Magic.” Finished! Write […]
Read MoreDear fledgling writer-self, What words of “wisdom” can I impart to you, now that I’m a bit further down the writer’s road? Perhaps, these… Read voraciously. Read like you did when you were a kid, devouring every book in sight like a ravenous werewolf. Have adventures—both on and off the page—because without adventure there’s no […]
Read MoreI’m closing in on the home stretch of my WIP, “Good, Old-Fashioned Magic.” In fact, I’m hoping to finish it this afternoon! It looks like the story will weigh in at around 33-34K—a little longer than my original estimate of 30K, but not by much. Since I’m up to my eyeballs in story work, I’ll […]
Read MoreI’m going to do a brief ROW80 check-in today, but first I wanted to share a dose of inspiration. I’ve found lately that I need a dose of fun and play in my life. (Blame it on the slow return of spring, or perhaps just blame it on the moon.) Here are a few videos […]
Read MoreThe world is a noisy place, full of car horns, ambulance sirens, voicemails, and endless chatter. Some people thrive on the chatter; for me, too much information makes my brain hurt. I cultivate places of stillness in my life where walls of silence keep the chatter at bay. Without those walls, the creative parts of […]
Read MoreAs I venture down the path of my life, I have to wonder if we really can make our dreams come true. How much of life is luck, fate, and serendipity? Perhaps some of life is luck: being in the right place in the right time, writing the right book at the right time, meeting […]
Read MoreIn 2009, I lost my grandfather to pancreatic cancer. It was a short battle. He was diagnosed a few weeks before my wedding; he died two months later. In the way he lived his life, he taught me how to love, how to be a good person, how to lead a good life. He wasn’t […]
Read More“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.” –Henry David Thoreau Thoreau ranks high on my list of inspirational people. His writings on anything from civil disobedience to simplicity to living close to nature always stir something in me. I am and always have been a nature freak. I believe […]
Read MoreWhile mulling over a new novella I’m working on, it dawned on me that there is a motif that flows through nearly every story that I write. It’s not something as abstract, as love (which is a given, considering my genre) or redemption or healing (though those are common ones) or any sort of existential […]
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Denise D. Young 