Today in the spotlight, please welcome Patricia Stover!

Patricia's story, "Creepers," appears alongside my own in A Journey of Words! "Creepers" is her first publication, and she is currently writing her first book. Take a moment to get to know her, like her Facebook page, and of course claim your signed copy of the anthology.

Ah, the freelance life. It is not for the faint of heart. You may experience strong cases of “pajama fever” and forget the day of the week. You will likely come to know more about your clients’ daily routines than those of your family, and your response to questions of, “Doing anything fun this weekend?” will be tearful laughter.

In case you have not experienced the joy of freelance life, here are a few GIFs to help you get the feel for it.

When you lose your planner, and the world refuses to stop...

Actual footage of a freelancer in her natural habitat:

Loitering becomes an art form. “Yes, I bought something! Twelve hours ago. Is that a problem"

Boundaries do not exist. “I’ve been working for 72 hours straight? Just one more email..."

Yes, we work in our pajamas. It’s a beautiful, magical thing.

Some days, we feel like we’ve made a terrible mistake.

But the smiles on our clients’ faces make it all worth it.

And by smiles, I mean emojis. Because we live on the Internet.

Some days it feels like there’s just too much to do.

But we always wake up ready for more!

Today in the spotlight, Marlon S. Hayes!

Marlon is a poet, writer, essayist, and author from Chicago. He is the author of View from the Sidelines, a collection of poetry, Touching Myself, an erotic collection, and The Perceptions of Beauty​, a collection of poetry and photos. His story, "Daddy's Boy," appears alongside my own in A Journey of Words!

Wow, there is so much stuff going on. I’m having trouble keeping track of it so I thought I would take a moment to update you on everything happening right now and everything coming down the pike.

Today in the spotlight, Susan Gibbons!

Her story, "21 Minutes," appears alongside my own in A Journey of Words.
​Her debut romance novel, The Mirror, will be out next month!

Writing is a mentally depleting task, and we work ourselves silly. After a fifteen-thousand-word week, we can feel like we’ve been hit by a truck—an eighteen-wheeler carrying a load of bricks.

And while reaching for the coffee might us feel better for a moment, it’s not the fix we need. Don’t get me wrong, I love coffee. But taking care of ourselves and our bodies is the number-one most important thing we can do for our writing.

If our bodies are not functioning at one hundred percent, our minds won’t be. And our creativity and productivity will both suffer.
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So here are a some simple ways to boost energy levels for the long term:

Today in the spotlight, J.M. Ames!

You can find his story, "The Last Ride," in A Journey of Words. J.M. is also an incredible supporter of Flooded—all the more reason to check out his work and get to know him!

As you know, each Monday and Thursday I've been spotlighting a different author from A Journey of Words. Today, those fabulous authors are spotlighting me. So I decided to do two things with today's post:

Today in the spotlight, Dennis Doty!

His story, "The Flying Tiger," appears alongside my own in A Journey of Words. And you can catch us both on October 4 at Corbin, KY Municipal Library signing copies of the anthology!

You’ve heard the old writing advice: Write what you know.

It takes other forms, as well. Write your story. Write your life. Write what’s closest to you.

I’ve heard people argue that we each have so much conflict in our own lives, there’s no need to reach outside of our personal stories for writing material.

That is true and not true.