As a writer, pitching has a totally different meaning for me than for those baseball pros out on mound. Pitching an idea can sometimes be the only way we secure a writing job. It’s for when the door is open, but the suggested topics to cover coming your way are limited.

If you’ve got an opportunity where pitches are accepted, don’t hesitate — pitch. You’ll not only get more writing assignments, but you’ll be able to control what you write, keeping things in a comfortable place and maybe...

When you ask someone what do they do to relax when they have downtime, how many say they grab a book and read? I’m sure there are at least some. And, while I love books, words are my life. Between writing, editing and yes, reading, sometimes even the best book isn’t the break I truly need. Sometimes, I need to step away from the cascading words on a page and give myself a true brain break.

Here’s how I do that.

WHY YOU NEED TO GIVE YOUR BRAIN A BREAK
Brain breaks are important no matter...

When people ask me what I do for a living and I tell them I’m a writer, I usually get a bit of a reaction.

“Wow, really?” or “That’s so cool,” have both been heard many times. There’s always an element of surprise, and it makes me wonder what people think I really do.

Do they imagine me sitting at my desk, typing away, words just flying from my brain to the screen?

That may be what’s happening right now, but in reality, that is just not what being a writer is all about.

I’ve said it...

I’m a professional writer because I love to write. This passion began for me when my handwriting was still impossible to decipher. Before keeping a formal journal, it was all about writing long letters home while I was at sleep away camp. I’d keep travel journals too, and at some point had an assortment of notebooks each with a few pages of journaling among my doodles and games of tic-tac-toe and CMASH (children of the 80-90’s you know what I’m talking about.)

My first serious journal was a...

I love pointing out the existence of this part of speech, though I’m not going to lie and say for years I confused an oxymoron with a redundancy. Those phrases really kill me too.

An oxymoron is an actual figure of speech, where two contradictory terms, based on their definitions, are put together. A big one that’s everywhere today is #humblebrag. There’s nothing humble about talking yourself up.

People who use oxymorons should know they’re not making any sense, so why does nobody say...