I spend a lot of time everyday talking to writers. It’s my job, and I really love my job. Part of that work is listening to the struggles that plague, I promise you, every writer at every experience level.

The one problem I hear about more than any other comes when I ask did you get some good writing done this week? You might be surprised how often the answer is No, I didn’t.

Probably not actually surprised that writers don’t write. Because I’m sure that might be your answer sometimes. But, maybe you’re surprised to know how universal the problem is.

These are people who are paying to learn how to be better writers. They want to write. They really do, all the way to their toes. They’re busy, though. There isn’t enough time. Or something has popped up — an illness, a move, a baby, and so on.

I have a theory for why actually writing seems such a problem for people who so deeply want to be writers.

When you’re new to writing, it’s a hobby.

And a hobby is something you do when you have free time. It’s not something you do when there are other ‘more important’ things to do.

Here’s an example: my hobby is art journaling. I love to art journal. But I would never stop working in the middle of the day to art journal. I art journal in the evening, when I’m done with literally everything else.

Work is done. Dinner is done. Dishes are done. Everything is done. Then I pull out my art journal.

Sometimes weeks or even months will go by when I’m just too busy to engage in my hobby. I have no desire to be a professional art journaler (whatever that might look like,) so it’s okay. But if I did want that, an inability to do the work would be a huge cause of stress.

If you want to be a professional writer, you have to shift writing from hobby to practice.

That means finding time to write. And the best way I know to do that is to set an incredibly small writing goal and make it a habit to meet it every day. Every single day.

My practice is to write new words on my current work-in-progress for ten minutes a day.

A writing practice is the path to becoming a professional writer (whatever that means to you,) exactly the same way that being an intern is the path to becoming a doctor or moving from walking to jogging to running is the path to being a runner.

My practice has taken me along a path from finishing my first very bad novel in 2004, through five novels published by traditional publishers, an MFA in creative writing, and a whole writing business that I adore.

Making this leap — from hobby to practice — is a struggle for many of us, specifically because when we consider it a hobby, it’s too easy to practice sporadically instead of consistently.

Don’t worry, though. I’m here to help. This is my speciality and I have a simple three-step plan for turning your writing hobby into a writing practice.

Step One: Decide When You’ll Write

Let’s try a little thought experiment.

Imagine that you work at a restaurant as a line cook. You’re scheduled to be there for a breakfast shift Monday through Friday.

Now imagine that you wake up one day and you need to do your laundry.

Would you call your boss and tell them that you can’t come in because you’re too busy? I bet you wouldn’t. Even if you don’t like your boss and you hate your job. You’d show up and figure out a different time to do the laundry.

I’m willing to bet that it rarely, if ever, crosses your mind to consider things like laundry when you’re thinking about your day job schedule.

The good news is that you don’t need to schedule a full time writing job.

I promise, you don’t. But you do need to set aside time that is for writing. You can do that by deciding in advance when and where — at 10 am in my living room. Or by deciding how long and committing to that number of minutes at some point every day.

You might find that having a specific time when you’re ‘supposed’ to write makes you rebellious or anxious and having the whole day to get your writing in is the best strategy for you.

You might find that having a wide open window for your writing practice is too loosey goosey and having a scheduled time is better for you.

I personally don’t schedule a time for writing — although I do write at about the same time many days. As long as I get ten minutes in before I fall asleep at night, I’ve completed my practice for the day.

Your job: Decide on what your writing practice entails. If you’re not sure, feel free to use mine. It’s worked for thousands of writers. (As a reminder, mine is to write ten minutes of new words on your current work-in-progress every day.)

Step Two: Remove the Overwhelm

Almost without exception, writers get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that goes into building a writing career. If you stop to think about it, it’s kind of ridiculous.

Whether it’s scope of their projects or self-doubt or feeling like you will never succeed — you are not alone. Everyone gets overwhelmed sometimes. And that overwhelm is a major cause of the Not Writings.

The second step to turning writing from a hobby into a practice is to reduce avenues of overwhelm. Identify them before they happen so you can havea plan for combatting them.

Here are some ideas for that.

• Don’t be precious. Train yourself to write anywhere, under any circumstances. If you tell yourself you need certain conditions, you’re inviting overwhelm.

• Carry a notebook. Or make friends with your notes app. Either way, having the mechanism for writing with you as often as you can. If you find yourself waiting for a doctor’s appointment or sitting at a soccer practice or pretty much anywhere a pocket of time might coincide with inspiration — you’ll be ready to write. And then you’ve practiced for the day. Yay!

• Put your inner editor away. Editing is important and a well-developed inner editor is essential. But if your inner editor is asserting herself while you’re trying to write a first draft — she’s overstepping. Visualize putting her in a lovely golden cage and covering it up so she’ll pipe down. Bring her out later, when you need her.

• Actually schedule your writing time. If you’re finding that ‘write for 10 minutes sometime everyday’ is too loose for you to actually stick to, go ahead and try scheduling it. Think of writing like a job where you have a daily 10 minute shift. Show up for it, the same way you’d show up for any other job.

• Find accountability. A writing community is a great way to gain accountability. If other people know that you’re developing a writing practice, it will be harder to let it slip. (I send out daily accountability emails as part of the Book-a-Year Project, btw.)

• Make sure your practice goal is small. Really small. Small enough tht it’s harder to skip than it is to just do it. If you find that you’re skipping your writing practice, there’s a good chance that you’ve chosen a small goal — but you really think you need to write more. That ‘more’ is your real goal and it’s too easy to skip.

Your job: Identify anything that causes you overwhelm and impedes your writing practice. Come up with a plan for cutting it off at the pass.

Step Three: Know What You’re Going to Write Next

This one is super simple. Every single time you write, write a sentence about the next thing you’ll write. That way you won’t spend any of your writing time trying to decide what to write.

Let’s say I’m writing a scene today where my main character confronts their antagonist. While I’m immersed in that scene, I am at the best possible position for knowing what comes next. It’s right there, front of mind.

Maybe in this case that next thing is the aftermath of that confrontation.

My last action today, then, would be to write something like this: MC pulls over on the side of the road to get themselves together after confrontation. Now tomorrow, I can just dive into that scene.

But, what if tomorrow I decide that my main character drives to her mother’s house and has a breakdown, instead of doing it on the side of the road.

That’s fine. I’ll write that. But chances are very good that I was right about the general idea of what needs to come next. And there’s no chance of me not knowing at all what to write today, if I made that note to myself yesterday.

Your job: Start writing a note to yourself at the end of every writing session about what you’ll write tomorrow.

That’s it.

I told you it was simple. Maybe not easy — there are likely some brain hurdles and resistances to jump over. But, this really is the whole thing. Turning your writing hobby into a practice is the key to building a writing career.

Make a decision to write everyday. Remove as many obstacles to keeping up with that commitment as possible. Make it easy to write tomorrow.

You’ve got this.

Shaunta Grimes is a writer and teacher. She is an out-of-place Nevadan living in Northwestern PA with her husband, three superstar kids, Art and Louie the dogs, and Ollie Wilbur the cat. She is the author of Viral Nation, Rebel Nation, The Astonishing Maybe, Center of Gravity and Here I Am.

Join the slow-writing movement by checking out The Book-a-Year Project.

My daughter Adrienne and I spent the last ten days in France. I had said that I’d send photos via Substack every day, but that didn’t happen. We didn’t have good wifi in the beginning, and then we were just having too much fun to stop and document too much.

So, I thought I’d share some photos now that we’re home. We had so much fun. We spent the first five days in Rouen, which is the capital of Normandy. And then we were in Paris for five days.

We started in Rouen, where Adrienne did some research for a book she’s writing. There’s a cathedral there that is central to her story. It’s on that Monet made a series of paintings of. The Cathedral Notre-Dam de Rouen.

It was easily the most stunning building I’ve ever seen in person. Gorgeous. Inside and out.

Rouen is a Medieval town and it’s so strange to my American brain to think about a place where so many of the buildings were built in the 1200s and 1300s and still in use. Construction on the cathedral as it stands now was stared in 1145. Crazy.

Rouen also has the oldest continuously used clock in the world. The Gros-Horloge or Great Clock was build in 1389.

After we left Rouen, we took a train to Paris where we stayed another five days. We saw so much there. We went to several museums, the Eiffel Tower, and Disneyland Paris. Also Monet’s gardens and house in Giverny, which is about halfway between Rouen and Paris.

We saw the Arc de Triomphe, which was built by Napoleon. (Or, he had it built.)

I as so excited to visit the Louvre. I’m glad we went, but it surprisingly wasn’t my favorite museum that we visited. It was so hot and crowded inside. We did get to see the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, which was fun. I think my favorite piece there was the Winged Victory statue.

My favorite museum was a much smaller museum of modern art called L’Orangerie. Here were some of my favorite pieces.

We also went to a Hilma af Klint exhibit at the Grand Palace which was pretty amazing.

The Eiffel Tower was as spectacular as you might imagine it to be. Seeing it lit up at night was the last thing we did in Paris before we left for home.

This was the view from the second story.

We spent Adrienne’s birthday at Disneyland Paris. It was a lot of fun and I’m really glad we did it. I grew up near Disneyland in California and I’ve been there, I don’t know—dozens of times. Disneyland Paris is about half the size and it was no where near as crowded, which was nice.

It had a little bit of the Uncanny Valley going on, because there were things that were almost the same as California—but not.

As fun as traveling is, I’m always glad to get home. I’m coming home from this trip inspired and ready to get back to my creative work. I’ve missed Ninja Writers, but I think the break was good for me.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve talked to several students about how I organize my manuscripts while I’m writing them. I thought it might be fun to get my ideas down in a post here for you all.

First, you should know that I’m a very linear writer. I start at the beginning and write through to the end. I also am a huge plotter. That being said, I always, always have ideas that don’t pop up until I’m writing them. Which means that even the best laid plots shift and change. They are living things.

I have one rule for myself when I’m writing a first draft. I never edit. That’s because I live for editing. I love it. And I kind of hate writing a first draft. If I let myself edit too early, I’ll never finish. I’ll just lose myself in editing.

That means that when something changes in my story that affects what I’ve already written, I need a way to keep track of it.

Also, I write in Google Docs.

Okay, now that the preliminaries are out of the way, here’s how I organize my documents.

As I said, I work in a Google Doc. I know that someone is going to comment and tell that that’s no good. I know there are drawbacks, but it’s what works for me.

I title my manuscript the name of the main character. So, in the example I’m sharing screenshots from below, the document is titled “Meri Jolie.” That’s it. Nothing fancy.

I pretty much make a manuscript sandwich. Plotting at the beginning, then the manuscript in the middle, and some notes at the end. Here’s what that looks like:

• I start with a brainstorm about the story labeled “Ideas.” I just free write what I think the story is.

• Next, a small description (basically what I know before I meet them) for each of the main characters. I turn the first line into a headline so it shows up in my sidebar with the facts that I might need at my finger tips (hair and eye color, nicknames, etc.) That way I can see that stuff without clicking the link and losing my place in the document. When I hover over the link in the sidebar, I get the whole headline, including hair and eye color and nickname.

  It looks like this.

  

• Then I free write about the setting or settings. Just whatever I can come up with before I start writing.

• Next is plot. Here’s where I record my five key plot points.

• After that, I write a shortish (no more than 3 to 5 page) zero draft. Essentially this is a long synopsis—what I think the story is, based on the five key plot points. This is the living part of the whole thing. I never stick to it. I just need to know there’s someway through the story.

• Last I have a headline that says “Edits.” Here’s where I make a record of any changes that I’m going to make to what I’ve already written. When I’m done with my first draft, I’ll make these edits first.

  Here’s my edit list for my current WIP:

  

• After that is my actual manuscript. Again, I write so linearly. I don’t have random scenes to deal with. I wish I had a better idea of how I would manage that if I did have them. I’m asked about it often. I think I’d have to use a program like Scrivner or Dabble that would organize them for me. I would also keep a spreadsheet of the scenes I’ve written with links. I can’t tell you how many writers I’ve spoken to who write scenes or chapters in separate documents and can’t find them later.

• At the bottom of my document, after my manuscript (so below where I’m writing) I keep a list of upcoming scenes and a bullet list synopsis of the whole story that’s updated so that it reflects what I’m actually writing. This helps me to know what I need to write next.

  This is what those two sections look like it my current WIP:

  

• If I have any other notes that I need to keep track of, I keep that last. For instance, in this WIP, there’s a supernatural element that I need to remember the rules for, so I have those notes at the bottom of my document, where I can get to them easily while I’m writing.

That’s it. When I’m done writing my first draft, I’ll edit on the same manuscript. When it’s done, I’ll make a copy and cut all the extra stuff, so I have a clean copy of the story to send off wherever it needs to go.

I take notes manually all the time and I have more extensive versions of each section in a binder, but I’ve found that it’s super, super helpful to have all my most important notes right there in my manuscript document. I never lose them. I never get lost looking for them. And it’s just super handy.

Hope that helps!

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying my posts. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!

Writers perform miracles when they produce a piece of fiction. They are creating whole worlds from nothing more than their imagination and some words.

They are putting those words together in a way that no one, in the history of humanity has ever done before. That’s incredible, when you think about it. Even a bad story is a miracle, when you look at it that way.

It’s also extremely hard work. One of the hardest parts of it is populating those worlds with people who feel real to the reader. Characters must be more than flat words on a page for a story to be everything it can be.

I’m going to share a simple exercise here that will help you to blow some life into your characters.

Everyone is flawed.

Have you ever had the experience of coming up out of a novel thinking — OMG, how did that much time pass? Or started to read and been unable to put the book down until there are no more pages to turn?

When that happens, you’re in the narrative dream. Anytime a reader slips so far into the story that they stop being aware of reading. Their real world falls away.

Being pulled out of that narrative dream, even for a fraction of a second, chips away at the reading experience. There are lots of things that break the narrative dream — but I want to focus on one right now.

The narrative dream is broken every time the reader becomes aware that a character is fictional. That happens most often, of course, because the character isn’t quite human enough.

To fuck up is human. To be fucked up is also human.

Pardon my French there, but readers don’t want perfection. Because it isn’t real. And if it isn’t real, it isn’t believable. And if it’s not believable, they’re pulled out of the narrative dream.

No one wants to be pulled out of the narrative dream. That means it’s our job, as writers, to create flawed characters. Even our heroes need human flaws.

A flaw is a trait that causes a person to make bad decisions.

It drives them in the wrong direction. A character flaw is the ultimate threshold guardian, because it is the thing inside the character that keeps them from their goals.

Here’s something that might blow your mind. It blew mine, when I was first taught it by a professor during graduate school. Every character flaw is rooted in strength.

Every single one. Whatever it is that’s wrong with your character, it starts with what makes them the best version of themselves.

Let’s take a look at some strengths and their corresponding flaws.

Curiosity

Curiosity taken too far can become recklessness, obsession, or distraction.

Alice is famously curious — and that leads her right down that famous rabbit hole. It also causes her to eat and drink things she probably shouldn’t and stick her nose in places that get her into trouble.

Intelligence

Intelligence taken too far can become pride, hubris, inflexibility, or an inability to connect to other people.

Sherlock Holmes is arguably the smartest fictional character there is and he describes himself as a ‘high-functioning sociopath.’ His intelligence keeps him from connecting to other people, leading to antisocial behavior.

Bravery

Bravery taken too far can become recklessness, inhibition, or a lack of self-preservation.

Katniss Everdeen is extremely brave. Her courage keeps her family from starving to death, which is good. It also causes her to volunteer to die in her sister’s place.

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm taken too far can become fanaticism, zealousness, obsession, or delusion.

Don Quixote is incredibly enthusiastic about his desire to embody chivalry and knight-like qualities. And that leads him to not see things the way they really are. He becomes zealous and delusional.

Try it yourself.

Here are a few more strengths you can play around with:

• Leadership

• Loyalty

• Honesty

• Empathy

• Ambition

• Dependability

• Fairness

• Generosity

Think about your character and their most positive personality trait — their strength. Then consider what happens if they take that too far.

Once you have a good handle on that strength/flaw circuit, give it a try with your main character. How can knowing what will happen if their biggest strength goes too far help you to make that character more human?

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying this series. I’m committed to posting daily through August, but I’d love to know that you’re out there. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!

Just wanted to pop into your inbox and remind you that we’re meeting tonight at 8pm EST for the Ninja Writers’ Big Spring Sales Event. Every year we host this event to offer our services at the best possible prices and to fill up our calendars for the next year.

We’re introducing a brand new product tonight, too, that I don’t want you to miss out on. It’s a ton of fun!

Here’s the link to register for the call or join us at 8pm EST.

Love,

Shaunta

It’s our time to fill up our calendar with workshops and services, and your time to get in on all the tools you need to reach your writing goals in 2026.

Whether it’s book editing, workshops, coaching, or community -- we’ll be offering it all.

Join us this Friday at 8pm EST for our third annual spring sale. Click here to register (it’s free!)

Register Here!

See you then!

Love,
Shaunta

P.S. This is a great call to come to if you’re interested in leaning how to become a part of our writing community. We’d love to see you there!

I’ve taken up this little morning practice of listening to a song and reading an excerpt of a book every morning.

A while back, the daily reading was Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Which, of course, I’ve read. Multiple times. But I was excited to see it come up, because while I’m reading, I add quotes to my commonplace book. And this book? It’s full of juicy bits. Full.

This one struck me especially today, and I thought I’d share it with you. (emphasis is mine.)

I head a preacher say recently that hope is a revolutionary patience; let me add that so is being a writer. Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and work; you don’t give up.

It’s not the most well-known quote from this oft-quoted book. But it struck me as particularly poignant. Enough that I wrote it on a sticky note and posted it in my work space. Because I’ve been struggling a little bit.

I have this book that I love. That I’ve been working at, off and on, for a decade. It means something to me, this story. I recently spent months updating it from a young adult book to a book for adults.

And I think the revision is good. Really good. It feels like the best writing I’ve ever done.

Only problem? My agent doesn’t represent adult novels. She’s a children’s book agent.

She tried to get another agent at her agency who does represent them to go in with her on a submission of my book to editors. But it didn’t work. Which — ouch. I’m not too proud to say that hurt.

What I expected when I turned this edited work in was something along the lines of wow, this is amazing. THIS is a classic waiting to happen.

I know. I know. My inner editor has balls. It’s not exactly becoming to think so highly of your own work, is it? But there it is, anyway. I love this story and I’m proud of the work I’ve done on it.

So, when what I thought would happen didn’t and then my agent suggested I use the book to try to find a different agent — one who represents adult work — it was an actual physical ache. It really did hurt.

Now I’m out on submission to agents, following the advice I give my students. Advice I haven’t had to follow in a very long time. The whole submission landscape has changed. Now agents use forms, instead of emails. I had to learn technology. Which — ugh.

Going on submission to agents involves writing a letter introducing your story and yourself and sending it to various agents who represent books like yours.

It can feel a little bit like throwing your beloved baby in with the lions at the zoo and hoping they’ll adopt her.

And while I wait infinitely long for the responses to trickle in, I’m writing a new book. It’s the only way I know to make this part better. I just keep working.

That Anne Lamott quote really struck me because even years and years into my writing career, I still have to have revolutionary patience. Being a writer is an act of hope that has to start in your soul or it has no chance of sticking.

I don’t think there’s any profession out there that has more waiting or more rejection than writing.

No one would do this to themselves if they didn’t need to. No one would submit themselves to the subjective whims of agents and editors and readers with work they dug out of their brains and the thin fucking air with tweezers.

No one would share the stories that matter the most to them, if they didn’t have hope that someone out there will be waiting to read them. If they didn’t believe, on some level, that they’d created something good.

And meanwhile, you write the next book.

You wait and work; you don’t give up. I think that will be my answer the next time someone asks me how to be a writer.

Today’s song is Stronger by Kelly Clarkson. Definitely a dopamine upper.

Today’s reading is from Waking Up by Sam Harris. The introduction was interesting—I added this one to my TBR. Which, is getting very long! But that’s okay. It’s like my virtual anti-library.

Here’s a quote I added to my commonplace book: My mind begins to seem like a video game: I can either play it intelligently, learning more in each round, or I can be killed in the same spot by the same monster, again and again.

Today’s journal prompt: Where are you blooming right now?

If you’d like more information about the Dopamine Experiment, you can find it here.

If you’re enjoying this series, it would be awesome if you’d restack this post. Thank you!!!

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying this series. I’m committed to posting daily through August, but I’d love to know that you’re out there. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!

Today’s song is Confident by Demi Lovato. It’s a pop song from 2015–something I would have probably loved when I was in middle school.

Today’s reading was from A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. The version I read from was a tenth anniversary edition with a new introduction from the author in 2015. It left me wondering what he might have to say now, another ten years down the line. He wrote that new intro at the end of the Obama administration. Things are definitely quite different now.

Here’s a quote I added to my commonplace book: Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.

Today’s journal prompt: What boundary are you proud of?

If you’d like more information about the Dopamine Experiment, you can find it here.

If you’re enjoying this series, it would be awesome if you’d restack this post. Thank you!!!

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying this series. I’m committed to posting daily through August, but I’d love to know that you’re out there. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!

Today’s song gives me chills every time I hear it. I love it so much. And the video is fantastic, too. It’s a must watch. Literally makes me tear up every single time. Kaela Settle is amazing. And if you look close, you’ll see Cynthia Erivo in the mix, too. This one was already on my playlist.

Today’s reading is also wonderful, and awful at the same time. Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. I added it to my TBR and went ahead and bought a copy.

Here’s a quote I added to my commonplace book: Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

Today’s journal prompt: What makes you feel peaceful?

If you’d like more information about the Dopamine Experiment, you can find it here.

If you’re enjoying this series, it would be awesome if you’d restack this post. Thank you!!!

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying this series. I’m committed to posting daily through August, but I’d love to know that you’re out there. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!

Today’s song is an old favorite: Madonna’s Express Yourself. I added it to my playlist.

Today’s reading was from Heavy by Kiese Laymon. It’s a hard-hitting memoir that is gorgeously written and difficult to read. If you like memoir, I highly recommend the sample. I put it on my TBR.

Here’s a quote I added to my commonplace book: I learned you haven't read anything if you've only read something once or twice. Reading things more than twice was the reader version of revision.

Today’s journal prompt: What does your perfect morning look like?

If you’d like more information about the Dopamine Experiment, you can find it here.

If you’re enjoying this series, it would be awesome if you’d restack this post. Thank you!!!

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying this series. I’m committed to posting daily through August, but I’d love to know that you’re out there. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!

Today’s song is DtMF by Bad Bunny. Except for the whole Super Bowl thing, I’d never even heard of Bad Bunny. I enjoyed this song, though. It was interesting to me that listening to a song in a language I don’t really speak (I’ve studied Spanish most of my life, but I still can’t speak it!), the words became part of the instruments almost.

Also, the more times I listened to it, the more the words came into focus.

The reading today is from The Examined Life by Stephen Grosz. I was totally engrossed in it. Today’s post is a little late because the sample was pretty long and I read every word of it.

Here’s a quote I added to my commonplace book: It is less painful, it turns out, to feel betrayed than to feel forgotten.

Today’s journal prompt: What’s one thing you did this month that surprised you?

If you’d like more information about the Dopamine Experiment, you can find it here.

If you’re enjoying this series, it would be awesome if you’d restack this post. Thank you!!!

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying this series. I’m committed to posting daily through August, but I’d love to know that you’re out there. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!

Can you believe we’re already 50 days into 2026? Today’s song is Respect Yourself by The Staple Singers. It’s a soul song from 1971, the year I was born. I think that makes it an oldie, but a goodie, right? I enjoyed listening to it and added it to my playlist.

Today’s reading was from The Joy of Living by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. There are a couple of introductions that I sort of skimmed, but once I got into the meat of the book, it was really interesting. I’d like to read the whole book, so I added it to my TBR.

Here’s a quote I added to my commonplace book: A disciplined mind invites true joy.

Today’s journal prompt: What makes you feel most like yourself?

If you’d like more information about the Dopamine Experiment, you can find it here.

If you’re enjoying this series, it would be awesome if you’d restack this post. Thank you!!!

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying this series. I’m committed to posting daily through August, but I’d love to know that you’re out there. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!

This morning’s song is a classic that reminds me so strongly of my mother that it actually made me tear up a little. Whitney Houston’s Greatest Love of All was her very favorite song.

Today’s reading was a novel, which was nice. The Secret Life of Sunflowers by Marta Molnar. I really enjoyed the opening. I added this one to my TBR. It looks to me like Molnar has a series of books about little-known characters in this art world that might be interesting to take a look at.

Here’s a quote I added to my commonplace book: Refusals will not kill me. Ridicule will not kill me. My feelings might be hurt, I might be embarrassed, I might want the ground to open beneath my feet, and others might wish the same for me, but I will not die. I will keep trying. I will live in gratitude, my face pointed toward the light.

Today’s journal prompt: What are you defending that doesn’t need defending?

If you’d like more information about the Dopamine Experiment, you can find it here.

If you’re enjoying this series, it would be awesome if you’d restack this post. Thank you!!!

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying this series. I’m committed to posting daily through August, but I’d love to know that you’re out there. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!

I think today’s is the first country song we’ve had. Still Learning How to Fly by Rodney Crowell.

Today’s reading was really interesting. From Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. If it interests you, it’s free with Kindle Unlimited. I downloaded it.

Here’s a quote I added to my commonplace book: Our ultimate goal, after all, is not a good death but a good life to the very end.

Today’s journal prompt: What does your body want to tell you?

If you’d like more information about the Dopamine Experiment, you can find it here.

If you’re enjoying this series, it would be awesome if you’d restack this post. Thank you!!!

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying this series. I’m committed to posting daily through August, but I’d love to know that you’re out there. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!

Today’s song is Love Yourself by Justin Bieber. This is young, young Bieber. It made me think about him at the Grammy’s this year, singing Yukon in his socks and underwear, so I went and watched that again. So, yeah, I went down a little Bieber rabbit hole this morning.

(This video for Love Yourself has been watched near 2 BILLION times. Whoa.)

Today’s reading was from Falling Upward by Richard Rohr. I wasn’t sure about this one—it’s pretty religious. But the opening essay about homesickness was really good. It hit hard.

Here’s a quote I added to my commonplace book: Before the truth sets you free, it tends to make you miserable.

Today’s journal prompt: If you could master one skill overnight, what would it be?

If you’d like more information about the Dopamine Experiment, you can find it here.

If you’re enjoying this series, it would be awesome if you’d restack this post. Thank you!!!

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying this series. I’m committed to posting daily through August, but I’d love to know that you’re out there. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!

I had a great little weekend trip to Pittsburgh with my girls. We saw Wicked, which was fantastic.

Today’s song is Self Love by Mary J. Blige. It was rather nice to listen to on repeat.

Today’s reading is from When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. It’s a Pulitzer Prize winner and the writing reflects that. I wished the sample was longer. I added this book to my TBR.

Here’s a quote I added to my commonplace book: I would have to learn to live in a different way, seeing death as an imposing itinerant visitor but knowing that even if I'm dying, until I actually die, I am still living.

Today’s journal prompt: What’s a small victory you haven’t celebrated yet?

If you’d like more information about the Dopamine Experiment, you can find it here.

If you’re enjoying this series, it would be awesome if you’d restack this post. Thank you!!!

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying this series. I’m committed to posting daily through August, but I’d love to know that you’re out there. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!

I skipped a couple days, and now I have to skip a couple more because I’ll be traveling through Saturday. By Monday, I’ll be back on track with this experiment.

Today’s song is My Funny Valentine by Chet Baker. As usual, I really enjoy jazz. I added this one to my jazz play list.

Today’s reading was from The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter.

Here’s a quote I added to my commonplace book: Finally, on June 29, 2007, boredom was pronounced dead, thanks to the iPhone. And so our imaginations and deep social connections went with it.

Today’s journal prompt: What do you want to stop pretending?

If you’d like more information about the Dopamine Experiment, you can find it here.

If you’re enjoying this series, it would be awesome if you’d restack this post. Thank you!!!

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying this series. I’m committed to posting daily through August, but I’d love to know that you’re out there. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!

Today’s song is La Vie en Rose by Edith Piaf. It was a lot of fun.

Today’s reading was from Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I was super disappointed that the whole sample was the introductions by the author’s daughter and granddaughter. But they were intriguing themselves.

When I read through quotes from the book though, they made me want to buy this one. Definitely on my TBR.

Here’s a quote I added to my commonplace book: You will remind me that I must try to be alone for part of each year, even a week or a few days; and for part of each day, even for an hour or a few minutes in order to keep my core, my center, my island-quality.

Today’s journal prompt: What’s something you’re getting better at that no one notices?

If you’d like more information about the Dopamine Experiment, you can find it here.

If you’re enjoying this series, it would be awesome if you’d restack this post. Thank you!!!

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying this series. I’m committed to posting daily through August, but I’d love to know that you’re out there. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!

Today’s song is a favorite that’s already on my playlist. Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen. Classic.

Today’s reading is also one of my favorites. I already own it. It was a lot of fun to revisit it today. Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon. I might actually go dig his books out of my shelves today.

Here’s a quote I added to my commonplace book: The worst troll is the one that lives in your head.

Today’s journal prompt: What childhood dream have you forgotten about?

If you’d like more information about the Dopamine Experiment, you can find it here.

If you’re enjoying this series, it would be awesome if you’d restack this post. Thank you!!!

Don’t forget to click the heart or leave a comment to let me know you’re enjoying this series. I’m committed to posting daily through August, but I’d love to know that you’re out there. It’s my favorite dopamine hit!