Bulletproof Heart––Keep going is the constant advice given to a writer when they’ve a rough day. It’s easier said than done and doesn’t help one lick when complex emotions might be clouding that otherwise sunny sky. How much time have you spent writing that story? Days, years… an entire lifetime? Let’s talk honestly about negative book reviews and the emotional cost of doing business as a creative in a society that’s rife with armchair critics. One of my literary idols, Harpe

Happy New Year! I chose 12: 30 E.S.T to pre-schedule this post, as I literally just jumped in the Atlantic Ocean with my awesome family. This is our fourteenth consecutive year. Brrr. We love the feeling of renewal and adrenaline rush. All of the toxic things that held us back the year before seem to reset and give us the courage we need to pursue our dreams. A new year in the Gregorian calendar brings new goals, new beginnings and new friends. Please take a moment to meet a

Be Yourself by Bibiana Krall One of my favorite literary quotes is by the inimitable Oscar Wilde, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel he wrote that certainly speaks of this merit and one that haunts me in the final and macabre scene. I won’t do a spoiler, if you have not had the pleasure. Read the book, then we can chat about what the symbolism means to each of us. The past week I have had lively and thought provoking interacti

- Creative Elysium - Scroll down and listen to "Take Me Higher" by the super talented C.J. Beards. So many times in the past year I have heard the same words from other writers, empaths and creatives, ‘I need a break’ ‘I’m overwhelmed by the interference around me and desperately need peace and quiet.’ In a digital world constantly redirecting our attention, lately I’ve recognized this urgency and constant desire in myself too. A walk with no devices, no companion and no di

Writers need to be challenged, and sometimes reminded to have fun. It was Saturday after all! The mystery writer Veronica Cline Barton shared the fantastic photo below on Twitter from her trip to Banff of an oil painting hanging in the historic hotel she had the great fortune of staying in recently. We decided to have some fun and use it as micro-fiction writing prompt. The only rule was to tell a story and use one hundred words or less. We might have gone slightly over, but