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Author: The Reluctant Author

The Reluctant Author, a user of words, has spent a lifetime writing words and storing them in notebooks, computer discs, digital files, and has now decided to step out into the light and start sharing some of those words with the world. (The Reluctant Author is Kendra Cooke's pseudonym)
First Impressions

First Impressions

I stand in the middle of the crowd and know what people think as they stare at me. They see me smile as I give them my full attention. I listen and nod while they share their woes and troubles. I offer sympathy without judgment, and an encouraging word where I can. They stare into my eyes, which I presume are gray or brown or whatever color they were when I was born. It’s hard to remember, because I haven’t…

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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Dear Reader, What a month it’s been! At the end of November, I crashed — and hard. I slept in far more than was normal for myself and struggled to sit at the writing desk and concentrate long enough to put coherent sentences together. It was a strange feeling to need a vacation after a month of digging deep and writing my heart out.  I’ve taken part in National Novel Writing Month since back in 2009, and I never recall…

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November 2023 Reads

November 2023 Reads

Despite all the writing last month, I still found time to read a few books. It kinda surprised me I read more in November than in October. There’s a direct correlation between how much I read and how much I write. Weird, but true, and somewhere out there you can find a few articles on the topic, too. Shall we dive into what I read in November? C is for Corpse by Sue Grafton — This is the one I…

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TGIO 2023

TGIO 2023

This is a series of questions I came up with for my local writing group to chat about at our Thank Goodness It’s Over party, which we’ll likely be celebrating the day you read this. I thought you might enjoy hearing some of my answers. I confess I didn’t include all the questions because some might not make sense to read. If you’d like a printable list of the questions for yourself or to share with fellow writers, you can…

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