writing inspiration – Hannah Karena Jones

The 6 Secrets Every Writer Needs to Know

My May 2011 commencement address was so bad, so completely depressing rather than inspiring, that it’s the only Bloomsburg speech in the past three years that isn’t posted on YouTube. Officially, Eduardo Ochoa, the assistant secretary for postsecondary education, “discussed how Bloomsburg University has prepared students to be active and engaged participants in the globalContinue reading “The 6 Secrets Every Writer Needs to Know”

To the Glitter End . . . Get Your Nailpolish Stories Published!

I’ve heard a lot of people wonder aloud who the lucky guy is who gets to invent awesome crayon color names for a living (did you know there’s 120 core Crayola color names?). Seriously, can you imagine coming up with brilliant creative names like “macaroni and cheese” and “mango tango” and getting paid for it?Continue reading “To the Glitter End . . . Get Your Nailpolish Stories Published!”

The Cure to Writer’s Block: Tell the Story Behind PostSecrets

Two weeks ago I attended the PostSecret event at Rutgers University, Camden campus with my younger sister. For those of you who don’t know, PostSecret is a community art project started by Frank Warren a handful of years ago where people send in anonymous postcards inscribed with a secret they’ve never shared before and FrankContinue reading “The Cure to Writer’s Block: Tell the Story Behind PostSecrets”

Get Writing Inspiration from Your Family’s Dirty Secrets

Secret: I am totally obsessed with family research on ancestry.com. I love picking family members’ brains for memories, dates, and the vaguely remembered names of cousins. I love sifting through the scanned census records, copying out tiny details–like that my great-grandfather (a different branch, not in this photograph) worked at a cigar factory in BerksContinue reading “Get Writing Inspiration from Your Family’s Dirty Secrets”

How I Wrote My First Book in a Rage and Survived

Inspired by a recent post over at storytelling nomad’s blog about authors who are evasive when answering the question “how did I start writing,” I thought I’d elaborate a bit, personally. I’ve already mentioned my notebooks/journals. After reading the entire series of Amelia’s notebooks, I wanted to write funny records just like hers. My firstContinue reading “How I Wrote My First Book in a Rage and Survived”