How to Take Risks, Build Confidence & Keep Going: A Guide For the Sensitive & Shy (Like Me)
I took a risk last week. I didn't publish a typical Hackerella post - one that marries personal anecdotes and insights with research and data. Instead, I decided to share 2500 words (and accompanying photos) about a little girl who finds a magic wand in the woods. Not exactly the...
Lila’s Wand, an Illustrated Short Story
My challenge for the month was a creative one - to write and publish a short story. It was a true experiment as I've never shared any creative writing, much less produced an accompanying photo essay before. But that's exactly what I did this month, and today, in lieu...
Follow Your Passion: Good Advice or Not?
Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be. ~Joseph Campbell What a difference a few weeks makes. Last month, to put it plainly, sucked. I was a bitter and dejected little whiner who painfully clawed my way through an insightful, but...
How to Stop Caring About What Other People Think, Once and For All
This week I asked a few folks to read and critique the short story I've been working on for this month's challenge. Normally, I'd work myself up into a frenzy, anxious about what they'll think of it, and worse yet, what they'll think of me (talentless wannabe...my 8 year old could write better than...
Hacking Creativity: Why We Need it and An Attempt to Find it
The first step in becoming a good writer is to write every day. You don't have to write for long and you don't have to write anything good, you just have to write and write often. Stephen King, Hemingway, E.B. White, Maya Angelou, Kurt Vonnegut - they all had/have their daily writing routines....