(Even If You Just Stayed Home!) Summer might be over, but the stories you collected—at camp, on a family road trip, or even in your own backyard—are just waiting to be written. A “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” essay doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, it can be one of the most exciting … Read more
A love letter to the stories that haunt us (in the best way) When people ask me why I write middle grade fiction, I sometimes want to say: because that’s where the ghosts live. Not always the sheet-draped kind, though I have a soft spot for those too. I mean the quiet ghosts—the ones we … Read more
Some of my favorite memories began when the tide went out. On quiet mornings after a storm, my dad and I would head to the shoreline—boots muddy, thermos in hand—to see what secrets the sea had left behind. Sea stars curled in tidal pools. Ancient oyster beds cracked open like fossils. The remains of forgotten … Read more
Somewhere between childhood’s wide-eyed wonder and the gritty push of adolescence, there’s a space that’s often overlooked. It’s quiet. Shifting. Tender. The world hasn’t fully asked you to grow up yet, but you know it’s coming. You start to see beneath the surface of things—friendships, family, even yourself—and you’re not sure what to do with … Read more
Some stories open like doors swinging wide. Others beckon with a whisper, asking you to lean in and listen. As a writer of middle grade fiction, I believe a first line should do more than introduce a story—it should cast a spell. When I was drafting my MG manuscript, I rewrote my opening sentence more … Read more
Some stories never need a spellbook. They cast their enchantment slowly—like the hush after a storm or the way grief makes time behave strangely. They work not through potions or portals, but through atmosphere, memory, and the kind of wonder that lingers long after the page is turned. This is the kind of magic I … Read more
Some days, I stare at my inbox like it’s a portal to both hope and heartbreak. I click it open, knowing full well what’s likely waiting: “Thank you for your submission… but.” A polite pass. A no that still stings, no matter how gently it’s worded. If you’re a writer, you know this part. The … Read more
They don’t move.They don’t sparkle.They aren’t beautiful—not in the obvious ways.But I can’t stop looking at them. Barnacles. Clustered like secrets on the undersides of docks. Crusted onto the backs of sea turtles. Clinging to driftwood, crab traps, and hulls like old, stubborn thoughts. I’ve scraped them off boats, stepped on them accidentally (and regretted … Read more
Florida’s beaches and backroads hold more than beauty—they hold stories. And for writers, these stories bubble up from the land itself. Abandoned hotels, drowned towns, pirate legends, roadside tabernacles, and oyster shell mounds—it’s all here, just waiting to be turned into fiction.Every rusted sign and weather-beaten boardwalk has a memory baked into it.There are whispers … Read more
Nature isn’t neutral. The swamp has moods—sometimes breathless and waiting, sometimes thick with secrets. The sky carries warnings in the curl of a cloud or the hush before a storm. Trees don’t just provide shade—they lean and whisper, they bear witness. They’ve seen generations pass beneath their branches. I write these spaces the way I … Read more