And Now It's July!

    I love July. July means hot days and cool pools. It means smoothies and s'mores. It says prepare for fireworks, watermelon, and ice cream. But most importantly, July means my birthday, and my birthday means a whole slew of new books! Remember last year? You can understand my excitement.

    So while I'm excitedly writing and reading the days away, I figured I'd share some inspiration with you. 

    My favorite piece of advice on this is #9- Listen to NEW music. Shameless plug-I absolutely love Spotify. It allows me to explore songs and artists I've never heard of before. And let me tell you, new music is inspiring. Every chapter of Powerful has been written to new CDs I've discovered on Spotify (Primarily Bastille). I also highly recommend Pandora. It's also a good way to find new music. You type in a song or artist you like and it will automatically find similar types of music. 

    Ask for criticism! Learn how to take criticism! You don't have to agree with everything everyone says or even incorporate everything into your writing, but it's important to know how readers feel so you can sort through their thoughts. You need to verify that what you're trying to say is making its way to the reader. Their responses can really help you improve as long as you are open to hear what they have to say.

    And most importantly...

    ~Alyson