Sneakers n' Shakes

There is no right way to write fiction. Unlike other types of writing which can follow a format, the basis of fiction writing is rooted in individual creativity. And though there might be some templates to follow (we’ve all read the third quarter conflict in a romance book or followed a chaotic build up to the climax of a thriller) but ultimately, the outcome of your plot and characters are going to be yours.  Which is why this blog post has been so hard to write. But I will try my best to share some writing tips for fiction that I have used and applied in my 11 years of writing fiction. (Oh my god it’s been 11 years….) These tips are also extremely applicable to NaNoWriMo (which I have completed twice now.) Quick recap, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month which is a challenge that happens in November. The idea is to write approximately 1.6k words every day so that by the end you have a book of about 50k words. (I def recommend every writer try this at least once!) 1. Do It S...

What is a go-bag? It’s my mini purse that I move with me whenever I change purses and holds all my essentials.  I have a lot of cute purses but found that I wasn’t using them as often because it was such a pain to remember to move everything from one to the other, so I took a small 4 by 6 inch pouch and put all my essentials inside and I now just move that from purse to purse. So what do I keep in my go-bag? It’s been a growing list but I prefer it that way to cover most of those “just-in-case” situations. Small ID Wallet: this holds my ID, 2 credit cards and whatever cash I keep on me. It is small and compact and since it’s open I can easily slide my card in and out. Keys Compact Mirror 2-3 Hair ties A few bobby pins A few safety pins 2-3 Band-aids Coins A nail file (I have long nails and they do be chipping) A sanitizing wipe A pen A small notepad Travel Perfume (those containers you can re-fill with perfume) Like 3 lip products (a gloss, a lipstick, and a liner) Hand Cream Notab...

Summer is usually busy and I always set a personal goal to make plans with as many people as I can and do a bunch of fun things. But it’s also important to spend some time with yourself, so I made sure to pencil that in for this summer too. One of my 25 in 25s (essentially my goals list for the year) was to go on a solo date. The first thing I had to figure out though, is what does a solo date really entail? First:  Getting ready as if you're actually going on a date. Treating yourself like someone you love and putting in the extra effort you would for another person. So I chose some cute, comfortable clothes (I wore a Taylor Swift shirt to impress my target audience: me :) and did my hair. The goal is to make this feel different from an errand, it needs to feel special and intentional.  Second: It's important to consider the location. I chose a café because I absolutely love coffee shops. (I actually prefer coffee dates in general.) Here are a few things to consider as you...

I don't normally set a summer bucket list and actually enjoy randomly stumbling across Snapchat, Instagram and Pinterest filters/pins that allow you to check off what you did over the summer. (And I enjoy that I tend to unintentionally do a lot of the items.) However, this year I thought I'd actually set one up myself and include some things I know I'm going to do, some things I want to try to make happen and sprinkle in a few of my actual goals for the year as well. If you set summer as a three month long season (June to August or if you're following the solstice June 21 to September 21st) then that's a fair amount of time to accomplish some goals! It's also a time to let you home in on a few key goals or projects without taking the rest of the year into question. If you're not someone who does monthly goals, I have a blog post here that explains how I set mine up: I'm going to use the same concepts I use for monthly goals when setting up my summer buck...

Summer is right around the corner so this month I thought I'd share my summer skincare faves! I will admit I'm not really a skincare aficionado but I will be sharing the few basics that I actually use. I've noticed that certain products work better for me during the summer and others work better in the winter. The biggest thing is I need a lot more hydration in the winter and if I use the same products in the summer my skin gets too oily. (I’m not sure what my skin type is but it seems to be dry in the winter and oily in the summer.) So with that let me jump into my summer faves: 1. Bliss Drench & Quench Cream-to-Water Hydrator During the summer, this becomes my primary face moisturizer. It's super light and provides just the right amount of hydration. Like the name suggests, it starts out like a cream but the more you spread it across your face it feels like water. The overall effect, as a result, is a lighter and airy feel that dries really quickly.  I don’t need ...

It’s poetry month so I thought I’d once again share a one-week poetry challenge! These are prompts I’ve collected from all over and have actually written on too, so I’ll be sharing the prompt list and my entries for them! 1. Write a poem where every line is a question and the last one an answer 2. So many skies 3. Here’s to moving on 4. Keeping the light on 5. All of my ghosts 6. Seems like forever  7. Write a poem where the last word of the previous line is the first word of the next line And here are my entries! 1. Write a poem where every line is a question and the last one an answer Are we going to be alright? When everything feels so bleak? When the state of the world feels like it’s falling apart, how can we even sleep? How do we contend with rights being stripped away? And when there’s so much uncertainty, how do we get through every day? Are we going to be alright? Doesn’t the Earth keep spinning, and each day still arrive? And somehow when we focus on the simple moments, d...