In this Tipster post, we provide tips on how to create musicality in your writing--and develop your writing voice.

J.S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” is like...

I grew up on the dry, windy prairies of the Dakotas.

My first pair of real shoes were a pair of cowboy boots. My first pet was a Shetland pony named "Topsy."

I am rural in the deepest parts of my...

Over the holiday break, I finally reached 30k followers on Instagram, after hovering around 28k for months. 
 
And the followers keep following. As I write this, I’m nearing...

I wasn't a goal setter early on in my career.

I was 39 when I started my first small business.

And suddenly, I had to make plans for the year. Or I wouldn't make my house payment.

Goal setting became...

At age 22, I received my most cherished and memorable Christmas gift: The Oxford English Dictionary (or OED) on CD-ROM.

Any nerves I had about marrying my fiancé (now husband) just a few days...

I rarely wring my hands about future catastrophic events.

I've got too many of my own troubles to think beyond dinner.

With four kids, two dogs, and college tuition for one more child still to pay,...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Except for those schmaltzy Hallmark movies.
 
People call my bluff when I say my husband is the one who watches them. It’s true. If the...

You've probably heard some version of the phrase, "You don't know what you don't know."

And that's the absolute truth at the start of a writing project. For every writer.

You don't know what you...

I am a fan of hypothetical scenarios, like “What if I was stranded on an island by myself…”

Without question, I’d be doomed. I’d never figure out how to make fire,...

First I got rejected, and then I got paid.

At the Big Bang of my writing life, years ago (in the heyday of magazines), I submitted an article to a publication. And it was promptly rejected.

I...

I’m a decorating nut. My home has been featured in both Country Living and Flea Market Style magazine. And in Spring 2023, it will be published in a book called ...

Around this time every year, I receive a DM from my literary pal with a link to John Keats’ poem, “To Autumn.” 
 
That message combined with Starbucks’ DM reminding...