WRITTEN REFLECTIONS

CREATIVE POSTS & INSPIRING QUOTES 

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6 Tips To Hook A Reader on Page One

6 Tips To Hook A Reader on Page One

I was completely bummed when Carly Watters stopped posting on WordPress a couple years ago; however, her blog is still up. I reference it quite a bit and highly recommend any writer do so as well.

One of an author’s biggest challenges is writing a compelling first page. This is not only important to hook readers but also an agent.

Here’s an excellent post from Carly’s webpage with suggestions to…

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5 Lessons I Wish I'd Known When I First Adopted A Child With Developmental Trauma (guest post)

5 Lessons I Wish I’d Known When I First Adopted A Child With Developmental Trauma (guest post)

Today’s post is curtesy of Keri Williams, whom I met in an online writing group. I was pleasantly surprised to find out she, too, is a foster-adopt mother whose child has Reactive Attachment Disorder.

Keri Williams blogs at http://www.RaisingDevon.com and is working on a memoir about raising her adopted son. Find her on social media @RaisingDevon. She has also written a book called Reactive…

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Three Reasons Failure is Necessary for Success

Three Reasons Failure is Necessary for Success

Over the last few months, I have been submitting articles, poems, essays, and short stories to various online sites, including literary magazines.

So far I have been rejected four times, received radio silence from three submissions, and one said they liked the story but couldn’t publish at this time. Two submissions are sitting in Submittable limbo, neither accepted nor rejected.

I was…

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A Letter to My Daughter's Teacher about Reactive Attachment Disorder

A Letter to My Daughter’s Teacher about Reactive Attachment Disorder

Dear Teacher:*

I adopted my daughter through foster care. Her birth parents were addicts, and she experienced neglect and abuse in her early years. No one answered  her cries on a regular basis; no one consistent changed her when her diaper was wet or fed her when she got hungry. Because of these experiences, she formed Reactive Attachment Disorder.**

What Led to Her Attachment Disorder

My…

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Sending First Query Letter

Sending First Query Letter

Today I am sending my first query letter.

I am pretty sure I will get a rejection. The agent takes “select memoir.” When I researched her client list, especially the memoirists she’s repped, they all had a huge online platform.

Since beginning my writing journey seven years ago – Yikes! Has it been that long? –  I’ve learned that author platformis more important than anything else when…

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Five Things I Took for Granted Before Having a Child with RAD

Five Things I Took for Granted Before Having a Child with RAD

This post was originally published on the Institute for Attachment and Child Development website.

My husband and I adopted Payton when she was three-years-old. She had alternated living with her birth mother and grandmother the first three years of her life. This switching back and forth between two environments—one of neglect and drug exposure and the other of overindulgence—led to her…

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Trials in Open Foster Adoption

Trials in Open Foster Adoption

I wrote this in August 2017.

It was originally published on Lori Holden’s webpage: LavenderLutz.com. She is an advocate for open adoption and has written the book The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption.

Everybody Owns a Scar: Trials in an Open Foster Adoption

In 2008, my husband and I adopted Paige through foster care after I assisted her birth mother, Ruth, in labor. A year later, Paige’s…

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Five Priceless Websites for Writers

Five Priceless Websites for Writers

FIVE PRICELESS WEBSITES FOR WRITERS

Every year Writer’s Digest comes out with an issue featuring the 101 best websites for writers. These are broken down by writing advice, agents and publishing resources, and writing communities, just to name a few.

With this magazine issue listing 101 websites with a brief paragraph each, plus all their regular columns, there isn’t enough space to fit them all.

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Why I'm Glad I Broke My Ankle

Why I’m Glad I Broke My Ankle

I haven’t posted anything in about four months because I’ve been avoiding social media. It’s such a time sucker.

And that sucks.

Not because of the things I need to do online. Nope. But because I see something interesting and totally unrelated, clink on the link, and travel down the rabbit hole of the Internet until I pull out my watch and shriek I’m late, I’m late!

And I just don’t have time for…

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United States Foster Care Epidemic

Please visit the link below to read about the foster care epidemic and how you can help.

      https://conscioustalkmag.com/2017/11/united-states-foster-care-epidemic/

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National Novel Writing Month

National Novel Writing Month

I recently started writing for Conscious Talk magazine. 

I’ve also decided to take part in NaNoWriMo.

I’m pretty busy, as you can imagine. But combining these two items, I managed to pull together an article for Conscious Talk magazine. Please click the following link to read about why you should participate!

How and Why to Participate in NaNoWriMo

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Words on Wednesday - Share Your Writing Success

Words on Wednesday – Share Your Writing Success

Welcome to Words on Wednesday, a link up for writers on the first Wednesday of each month.

For each link up, I post an optional topic, but you can write about whatever you like as long as it pertains to writing in some way. This includes promoting your work!

The optional topic for today’s Words on Wednesday optional topic is to share your writing success.It can be as huge as signing on with one…

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Words on Wednesday - Favorite Writing Quotes/Memes

Words on Wednesday – Favorite Writing Quotes/Memes

Welcome to Words on Wednesday, a link-up for writers on the first Wednesday of each month.

Each month I post an optional topic, but you can write about whatever you like as long as it pertains to writing in some way. This includes promoting your work!

The optional topic for today’s Words on Wednesday: Share your favorite writing quote or meme.

It can be a quote directly about writing or one that…

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Words on Wednesday - Share Your Writing

Words on Wednesday – Share Your Writing

Welcome to the second Words on Wednesday, a linkup the first Wednesday of each month.

Each month I will post an optional topic, but you can write about whatever you like as long as it pertains to writing in some way. This includes promoting your work!

Today’s optional topic is to share some of your writing.This can be a short story, a poem, a longer WIP (work in progress), and even an opportunity…

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Cocaine Donut Mom — Herding Chickens and Other Adventures in Foster and Adoptive Care I wanted to be the homemade chocolate chip cookie mom. Before the children were placed with us I practiced.

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Gimme Your Opinion

My daughters are in camp this week so I’ve been busting my butt to edit my memoir. My brain is fried and I’m convinced my eyeballs are going to fall out any minute.

Editing sucks.

Due to said fried brain and eyeballs hanging precariously in their sockets, this blog post will be short.

In addition to editing, I’ve been working on my book proposal. In How to Write A Book Proposal by Michael…

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Adoption Trauma, pt. 1

Adoption Trauma, pt. 1

The other day, I read and participated in a Twitter conversation about adoption trauma.

Here’s the background of the conversation:

A person retweeted a blog post from the Twitter page of Adoption and Fostering which posed the question Is adoption trauma? The author then listed reasons as to why the answer is yes.

The person who retweeted this article disagreed. He works as a developmental…

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