Drops of Inspira

  Set the Stars Alight by Amanda Dykes  &  a few other books by another favorite author. ISBN-13: 978-0764232671 Author: Amanda Dykes  ©  Bethany House Publishers; 6/1 edition (June 30, 2020) "Set the Stars Alight" by Amanda Dykes (available on Amazon.com) This is the kind of book that inspired me to write my own novels at six years-old. It's full of hope and light in the midst of darkness. It makes you feel seen. It reminds you that you are not alone. Set the Stars Alight by Amanda Dykes feels like home. Like magic. And starlight and mystery. Family and found family. Redemption. And the slowest, sweetest slow-burn romance ever created in one book. This book came at time where my creative well was drying up. Like a dry leaf, I started to curl up on myself, to shrivel and die. This book changed all that, and I'm not being dramatic.  After reading Set the Stars Alight , my heart began to open up again. To unfurl and to believe that there is still good in...

  Hello! During the last post, I talked about cultivating sense of wonder.  Without wonder, we often find ourselves going about the day-to-day with a sense of rote, almost robotic-like rhythm. We don't really think about what we are doing. We just do it. Somewhere in the mix, we lose that childlike sense of wonder, hope and joy. We look forward to the weekends and then realize that they've passed before we've properly dipped our toes in their waters. What if there was a way to have that awareness, that wonder every day? I'm by no means an expert at this, but here are a few things that have helped me cultivate a sense of wonder. 1. Nature Getting outside, going for a walk, or just spending time with green and living plants, breathing in their scents seems to help a lot. Better yet, if you can plant something yourself, water it and watch it grow, that seems to give you something to root for (no pun intended). Suddenly, you are very involved in watching this thing grow and...

  Hello!  *gives tired little wave* I honestly didn't know if or when I would ever come back to this blog.  It's been a hard, exhausting set of months. My mental health tanked badly. I thought about this blog often. I would sometimes open the page to write a post and stare blankly, begging my mind to pour something forth. To connect. To do something. But brains don't work that way. Sometimes they need a reset. That being said, I do have a little bit of plan going forward so you'll see me around, just maybe not as often as in the past. I'm still recovering. During my break, I've been doing a fair amount of reading, creating (I finished two crocheted blankets and have taken up painting with acrylics), and spending time with family. And yes. Writing has happened too. Just not as consistently as before. As one of my characters has yet to learn, most of the time you can't force inspiration to appear. It comes, but it has to find you working. There's been lots...