The Sparrow's Nest

Hi! I'm Julia! I'm writing a blog! I'm so excited! I want to bring awareness! It's not just for you and me! It's for the world! Here's why I write! 1. I want the world to know about how I can't cook donuts! 2. I want to teach the world what it means to lose a sunflower after months of hard work! 3. They have to know about all of my dead fish! 4. Don't pour your money into dating sites! 5. There's nothing we can't do! If your writing looks like this, you sound like a chicken! Banish those exclamation points to the abyss. They're like sugar. Please use sparingly. Nobody wants to catch writing diabetes. Exclamation points can render the most serious of writing pieces idiotic. Add the extra kick only when needed. Example: Kara skipped home from school. She couldn't wait to see her chicken. She and Mrs. Hopper were the greatest of friends. She forgot to feed Mrs. Hopper most of the time, but it was okay. ...

Even before Pariahs  was ready for publication, I'd started working on book two. When I finally came up with a title, I was thrilled, because usually my titles are the last to arrive. Well, last week a different name showed up and said, "Hi, I'm the official title!" It didn't even apologize. In thinking about book two's name, I realized it revealed too much. For the Ilings series, I want each book to have a mystifying title encompassing the novel's heart. When the complete series showcases, Gorgeous,   Elegant,  and Majestic  can't be grouped with Bumpkin Town.  The titles need to mesh together. I slept on this title for several days. Something wasn't right, but last night around midnight, I got it. Make the title plural. Bam, the chills struck me in the gut. This is what the title should be. Without further ado, let me introduce the sequel to Pariahs. Embers.

With me today on this beautiful first of November are Sean L. Brown and April Emerson, two exceptional people who wish to open your eyes to the beauty of the world. Anyone that has met the two of us at a signing, an event, or simply walking around exploring knows that we are not quite your typical pair. So when Julia invited us to guest blog here and talk a little bit about #LETME, we jumped at the chance to have a little fun. Now, we have been interviewed in the past, yet this time we looked at each other via video chat and said, “Hey, if we don’t have an interviewer, why not interview each other?” In true Team Sean’s Thoughts: why not, indeed.. APRIL: Sean, let’s go. What is LETME? And, how did it get started? SEAN: LETME stands for “Live Every Tiny Moment Exceptionally.” After I had been writing online what I called “Sean’s Thoughts” for several years, I wanted to show people that the best things in life could be found in the small things. I thought that this messa...