welcome to the
Writer’s Garret
If you’re a writer, or aspire to be, you’re in the right place.
This is where you’ll find all my writing tips and
advice for living your best writing life.

6 Places to Find Character Names (that aren’t name your baby books)
A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but when it comes to your characters, names matter. A lot. Would Harry Potter be the same character if he’d been named Archibald Beauregard III? I think not. So where can you look to find just the right names?



My Favorite Scrivener Tip for NaNoWriMo
November is right around the corner, and with it comes National Novel Writing Month. Stock up on coffee, tea, & chocolate, and let’s get writing!



13 Southern Superstitions
It’s Friday the 13th! Watch out for black cats, ladders, spilled salt, broken mirrors, & all that stuff.



Take a Hike! | 5 Reasons Writers Should Get Out & Walk
Spring is finally here, bringing sunshine & longer days. After months of being stuck indoors & weeks of endless rain, I’m ready to get out & play. Then I think that maybe I should be working more & playing less. But what if getting outside could be work, too?



Grave Robbing for Mystery Writers
The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy & vague. Who shall say where one ends, and the where the other begins? Edgar Allan Poe tap•o•phil•i•a (n.) an abnormal attraction to & desire to visit cemeteries & graves; from…



NaNoWriMo
But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you…



A Cup of Tea & A Good Book
Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea & a good book. Bill Watterson Read any good books lately? Between homeschool & flu & dance classes it’s been pretty hectic around here. I’ve still managed to…



Is Ned Dead? A writer’s (& reader’s) guide to speaking Southern
There’s a whole lot more to speaking Southern than y’all & yonder. Want to improve your grasp of Southern sayings so you can write a Southern character, or at least read one? You’ve come to the right place. Pull up…



5 Photography Skills That Can Improve Your Writing
To visualize an image (in whole or in part) is to see it clearly in the mind prior to exposure, a continuous projection from composing the image through the final print. Ansel Adams, The Camera Do you feel like you…