Emotions are a vital part of my life. I sense, perceive, and express emotions in the vast majority of my daily life, whether it’s work, play, or personal interactions. Once, at a meeting with one of my writers' groups, I was commenting on another author’s child character who I thought was surprisingly out-of-touch with their emotions and I compared the character to my own son, who…
As a little girl, my favorite color was red for the longest time, but then the Power Rangers came along and I switched it to yellow (because the Red Ranger was a boy and I wasn’t about to be like every other girl who liked the Pink Ranger.) Colors are clearly emotional for me. Yesterday I was painting a landscape for my husband (see below). He…
Have you ever put down a book you were reading because you just couldn't bring yourself to care about any of the characters? There are some genres out there that tend to get so focused on plot and concept that the characters are hammered into these thin cold puppets who act without any visible charisma or relatable motives. As a writer, regardless of your chosen genre, you cannot let…