I have been playing around with writing fiction for the first time in a long time.  A fantasy story about elves has been playing around in my head for years. I sketched some character descriptions and tried writing few scenes in the past but it’s never gone anywhere.  I decided to invest in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel because I have heard it recommended many different times to help in plotting out a novel. I’ve written out short stories before, but nothing recently and I have never written anything that comes close to the length of a novel. What if I’m too much of a beginner to benefit from…

This book is small and cute like the kind of thing you would get as a Christmas gift for you artsy friend. It’s the kind of visually appealing book that would catch your eye in the checkout line at Barnes and Noble and suck you in. Its quick read text layout and the appealing black and white graphic design make it a fun and easy read. I read the whole thing in one sitting and it left me feeling inspired and holding on to the following concrete takeaways: 1) All creative work builds off the work of other earlier artists. The author encourages us to dig deep into the works…

Barbara Sher is a well-known speaker and author on personal growth topics. I don’t know how I missed her because I love reading self help books, but she is a classic author in the field. The title of this book captivated me – Refuse to Choose – Use all of your passions, interests and hobbies to create the life and career of your dreams. I have always wanted to major in everything and have a ton of hobbies and interests, so it sounded right up my alley. Barbara calls the target audience of her book “scanners” which which she defines as a person wired to be interested in a wide…