About

I’m Laura (the picture below is me with my sweet puppy Selby). I’m an aspiring writer in the Midwest of the United States who has been “aspiring” as a creative writer for a long time. In 2018 I went about trying to actually do something about that. I came up with the idea in the early part of January 2018 to write one short story a month for a year. So I created what is now this blog and called it “12 Months of Stories.” My objective was to finish 2018 with 12 complete short stories and more confidence as a writer. I succeeded in my goals and now I want to continue this blog much like I want to continue creative writing. I also used to have a blog called “Watching Pop Culture With My Parents” (you can read more about that former blog here) that I have turned into a monthly blog post feature on this blog (every 2nd week of the month).

I plan to try to get published, and just pursue as many avenues as I can to get my writing out there. And this little blog will be my way of keeping track of my creative pursuits.

Writing My Memoir 

I have been writing a memoir about coming out of a coma after a severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). I started writing bits of it in 2018 but took an aggressive approach and tried to finish it in July 2019 during Camp NaNoWriMo (where you try to write 50,000 words in a month during a virtual “camp” that is really meant for motivation). I didn’t finish in July 2019. But I wrote around 37,000 words. I’m still writing it with plans to finish soon. I chronicle my writing adventures in every blog post with the fourth week of the month with a feature dedicated to my writing.

Blog Posting Schedule

I’ve decided the best way to keep me honest is to do weekly blog postings and I chose Monday (#MemoirMonday) as my posting day. I also decided to keep a fairly regimented topic calendar for now. Each week is mapped out with a kind of topic (see chart below). 

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

I have a separate page you can reach here that talks more about my TBI and injuries sustained post-TBI. It also links to related blog posts all in one location.

Daily Doodle

I have decided to take my #CreativityForDays 2020 challenge and transition it into a daily drawing/painting journal that I am calling “The Daily Doodle.” Like #CreativityForDays, I will feature one or more doodles in my weekly blog post. The idea that this creativity exercise sparked creativity is very true but it has also sparked joy and a blossoming passion for art. Thanks to #CreativityForDays, I have a lot of creations from 2020 that I will always treasure and I think the Daily Doodle could transition into a lifelong habit and hobby! (Read more about the Daily Doodle and its predecessor #CreativityForDays on this separate page).