Tag: art

5 Tips for Turning Your Teen Turmoil Into a Novel

February 7, 2016
Writing

HarperCollins Canada asked me to write a post for their official YA Blog, HCC Frenzy. Here’s a short except, followed by a link where you can read the whole article. There’s no way around it: high school hurts. The good news? Pain is precious to writers. It motivates us, inspires us, fuels...

RILEY’S MIX TAPE (AKA PLAYLIST)

February 5, 2016
Fiction, Music, Personal

Music was an essential part of my teenage experience. When I liked somebody, I made them a mix tape of songs that would [hopefully] make my feelings obvious so I didn’t have to admit them. When someone broke my heart, I made a mix tape of breakup songs. When I graduated, I made a mix tape of...

Creativity On The Daily

May 19, 2015
Video, Writing

HOW DO A WRITER, a father/database programmer, a web designer, a payroll ops manager, and an actor/marketing consultant fit creativity into their daily lives? My friend, actor/producer Curtis Andersen, invited me to be on his web panel, Creativity on the Daily, about how full-time artists and hobbyists...

On Doubt, Fear, and Being a Professional Artist

November 29, 2014
Personal, Writing

ON GOOD DAYS AND BAD DAYS During a writing day, I inevitably hit a point of diminishing returns. A point where any work I do will likely have to be redone the next day–because I’m too mentally, spiritually, or intellectually tired to continue doing good work. Usually it happens around 3PM–but...

RE-GEEKING

October 11, 2013
Personal, video games

Once upon a time, I was a geek: a Firefly-watching, comic book-reading, d12-wielding geek. And then, something happened. Wait—let’s flash forward. FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES I have this group of amazing friends. Every time I’ve scored a walk-on part on a sitcom, they’ve come to watch. Whenever...

Who You Are

September 20, 2013
Personal, Writing

Image: “Lost” by AikaXx from deviantART WHO YOU ARE You’re not a fraud. You’re not a fake. You’re who you say you are. You’re too dynamic for labels, too mobile for coordinates. You’re a shooting star, an ephemeral isotope, a thing that was, and shall be, but never quite is. You...