Week 29 – #WritingWednesday Challenge

Today is the 29th Edition of #WritingWednesday!!!

Remember, #WritingWednesday is an EASY, STRESS-FREE, weekly writing challenge.

  • Read the writing prompt below,
  • Spend 5 minutes writing (in your own voice or the voice of a character you’re writing) whatever comes to mind,
  • DON’T EDIT what you write! IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT!

The goal is 5 minutes of creativity.

Today, I am writing in my own voice. As a mom, this writing prompt really spoke to me!

Today’s writing prompt:

What do you think is the most important thing for today’s kids to learn in school?

When I was growing up, school was all about projects, research, learning, and even discovering new things. Sure, I was a kid so I thought of it as work… I complained about all the homework and tests and time. Yes, it took time to get everything done. We didn’t have the internet. We didn’t have access to unlimited knowledge at our fingertips. We actually had to go to the library, search the stacks, and often time resort to reading the encyclopedia to find the information we needed.

Today, school seems all about test scores and less about actual learning. Sure, kids do gain knowledge from attending classes, but more importantly I think they gain social skills. Outside of the classroom, kids are often sitting with their noses pointed at either a phone, a computer, or some form of gaming device. Kids don’t interact the same way they did when I was younger. If I wanted to talk to a friend, I had to call them on the phone (which was connected to the wall with a cord) and have a real-life conversation. Today communication is done through sending photos, emojis, and poorly written (often abbreviated) text messages. I fear that kids are losing the social skills that are essential to a successful future. That is why I feel that the most important thing for kids to learn in school is communication!

© 2019 Nina Soden


Alright, now it’s your turn. I’d love to see what today’s writing prompt inspires in you. So, if you are willing, go to the comment section below and start typing. Take 5 minutes and let’s see what you come up with! 

What do you think is the most important thing for today’s kids to learn in school?


What books have made your August reading list? Check out the New York Times bestsellers for August 2019 by CLICKING HERE!


Are you an author who is looking for ways to stay organized and on track with all your writing goals? Check out my author workbooks below. They are full of all the tools I use in my writing process!

Are you working on a manuscript, but need a little help getting organized? Check out SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK ~ An Indie Author Guide to Outlining and Planning Your Next Novel it isn’t just for indie-authors. I have filled it with all the tools I’ve learned over the years and use on a regular basis with each book I write.

Want help meeting your writing goals? Check out JUST WRITE: The Ultimate Author’s Bullet Journal a planner-journal hybrid to help new and experienced writers stay organized while still fostering creativity. Track your progress with daily/monthly word count goals. Plan your writing/publishing goals, manage your to do list, never miss another deadline or appointment again, keep track of writing ideas, schedule/log social sharing and blog post ideas, keep a record of books you’re reading or want to read, maintain a running playlist, etc.


It’s You… by Nina Soden

Who looks across a crowded room and knows with just a glance, the things my heart is feeling in every circumstance?

Who holds me when I’m feeling blue and listens to my woes, then hugs my heart with gentle words until that feeling goes?

Who knows me by what I hide, but loves me with the promise that he’ll stay right by my side?

Who comforts and protects me, no matter what life brings – It’s you, the man who fills my life with a million happy things!

Dedicated to my amazing husband and my beautiful children.

(c) copyright 2008 ~ Nina Soden

For more poems, check out by collection on Amazon: Private Words Unspoken

Week 27 – #WritingWednesday Challenge

Today is the 27th Edition of #WritingWednesday!!!

Remember, #WritingWednesday is an EASY, STRESS-FREE, weekly writing challenge.

  • Read the writing prompt below,
  • Spend 5 minutes writing (in your own voice or the voice of a character you’re writing) whatever comes to mind,
  • DON’T EDIT what you write! IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT!

The goal is 5 minutes of creativity.

Today I am writing in the voice of Ava, one of the characters in the novel I am currently outlining. I’m not sure if this will be a selection in the novel, or just part of my character development journal.

Today’s writing prompt:

What are you recovering from right now?

I have third degree burns down the right side of my face and body. I’ve been in the Operation Atlas Treatment Center for over a month and the doctors say I’ll be released in just under a week. The average human would take months and multiple skin graft surgeries before they’d be healed enough to leave. Not me, I heal quickly. It’s one of the many benefits of being a metamorph.

Sure, without the surgeries I’ll have scars, but I don’t care about the scars. I’ll wear them with pride, like a badge of honor.

You see, I can do something not many others can do. I can control fire, or at least I will once I get my powers under control. I’m still learning.  

Being an Incendiary is rare, but being an incendiary with two of the three primary powers is unheard of. That’s why Operation Atlas is taking such good care of me. I’m one of their elite.

© 2019 Nina Soden


Alright, now it’s your turn. I’d love to see what today’s writing prompt inspires in you. So, if you are willing, go to the comment section below and start typing. Take 5 minutes and let’s see what you come up with! 

What are you recovering from right now?


What books have made your August reading list? Check out the New York Times bestsellers for August 2019 by CLICKING HERE!


Are you an author who is looking for ways to stay organized and on track with all your writing goals? Check out my author workbooks below. They are full of all the tools I use in my writing process!

Are you working on a manuscript, but need a little help getting organized? Check out SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK ~ An Indie Author Guide to Outlining and Planning Your Next

It isn’t just for indie-authors. I have filled it with all the tools I’ve learned over the years and use on a regular basis with each book I write

Want help meeting your writing goals? Check out JUST WRITE: The Ultimate Author’s Bullet Journal

Week 26 – #WritingWednesday Challenge

Today is the 26th Edition of #WritingWednesday!!!

Remember, #WritingWednesday is an EASY, STRESS-FREE, weekly writing challenge.

  • Read the writing prompt below,
  • Spend 5 minutes writing (in your own voice or the voice of a character you’re writing) whatever comes to mind,
  • DON’T EDIT what you write! IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT!

The goal is 5 minutes of creativity.

Today I am writing in the voice of Stella, one of the characters in the novel I am currently outlining. I’m not sure if this will be a selection in the novel, or just part of my character development journal.

Today’s writing prompt:

Complete this thought: “I wish an alarm would notify me whenever…”

I wish an alarm would notify me whenever it was time to wake up and go to school. I’m twelve years old and I haven’t been to school in almost two years.

I miss it.

It’s funny, when I was going to school every day, I hated it. Sure, I liked seeing my friends and recess of course, but sitting in a class, listening to the teacher talk all day… I can’t say I enjoyed that.

But now, I miss it.

I guess you always miss the things you can’t have; the things that are taken away to early.

You see, where I’m from, if they find out you have powers that can be useful to the government, like mine, you’re carted away to the Operation Atlas headquarters. I’m one of four watchmen with the power of telepathic perception. Basically, it is the ability to receive information from another mind. It’s more complicated than that, but you get the picture.

I have alarms that wake me up, tell me when to eat, when to leave for work, when to sleep, and just about everything else. My movements are monitored and I can’t do anything out of order or without permission. For once, I’d love to sleep late, skip a meal, play outside, or just go to school.

There are times, first thing in the morning before I even open my eyes, that I forget where I’m at. I forget about the ten-foot by ten-foot whitewash room they keep me in. I forget that I’m not just another normal kid. Those first few seconds of the day are my favorite. But lately, they’ve been happening less and less. I think I’ve started to forget… forget my past, my friends, even my family.

© 2019 Nina Soden


Alright, now it’s your turn. I’d love to see what today’s writing prompt inspires in you. So, if you are willing, go to the comment section below and start typing. Take 5 minutes and let’s see what you come up with! 

Complete this thought: “I wish an alarm would notify me whenever…”


What books have made your August reading list? Check out the New York Times bestsellers for August 2019 by CLICKING HERE!


Are you an author who is looking for ways to stay organized and on track with all your writing goals? Check out my author workbooks below. They are full of all the tools I use in my writing process!

Want help meeting your writing goals? Check out JUST WRITE: The Ultimate Author’s Bullet Journal

Are you working on a manuscript, but need a little help getting organized? Check out SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK ~ An Indie Author Guide to Outlining and Planning Your Next Novel


#Theredheadedauthor Presents the August 2019 New York Times TOP 10 Best Sellers – FICTION

As an avid reader of fiction (and an author who one day hopes to make the list) I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE checking out the New York Times Best Seller list. So, here it is… The independently ranked top 10 Fiction selections for August 2019!

If you’ve read any of the TOP 10 selections and recommend them, please comment below and let me know. If you see something you like and plan to pick up a copy, you can do so by clicking on the title or the [BUY IT HERE] button.


#1 ONE GOOD DEED

by David Baldacci

A World War II veteran on parole must find the real killer in a small town or face going back to jail.


#2 Where the Crawdads Sing

by Delia Owens

In a quiet town on the North Carolina coast in 1969, a young woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.


#3 The New Girl

by Daniel Silva

Gabriel Allon, the chief of Israeli intelligence, partners with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, whose daughter is kidnapped.


#4 The Nickel Boys

by Colson Whitehead

Two boys respond to horrors at a Jim Crow-era reform school in ways that impact them decades later


#5 The Reckoning

by John Grisham

A decorated World War II veteran shoots and kills a pastor inside a Mississippi church.


#6 THRAWN: TREASON

by Timothy Zahn

A Star Wars saga. Grand Admiral Thrawn must choose between his sense of duty to the Chiss Ascendancy and loyalty to the Empire.


#7 Under Currents

by Nora Roberts

Echoes of a violent childhood reverberate for Zane Bigelow when he starts a new kind of family in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains.


#8 Summer of ’69

by Elin Hilderbrand

The Levin family undergoes dramatic events with a son in Vietnam, a daughter in protests and dark secrets hiding beneath the surface.


#9 Before We Were Yours

by Lisa Wingate

A South Carolina lawyer learns about the questionable practices of a Tennessee orphanage.


#10 The Tattooist of Auschwitz

by Heather Morris

A concentration camp detainee tasked with permanently marking fellow prisoners falls in love with one of them.


Week 25 – #WritingWednesday Challenge

Today is the 25th Edition of #WritingWednesday!!!

Remember, #WritingWednesday is an EASY, STRESS-FREE, weekly writing challenge.

  • Read the writing prompt below,
  • Spend 5 minutes writing (in your own voice or the voice of a character you’re writing) whatever comes to mind,
  • DON’T EDIT what you write! IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PERFECT!

The goal is 5 minutes of creativity.

Today I am writing in my own voice.

Today’s writing prompt:

What was the last thing you read or saw that really inspired you?

The last thing that really inspired me wasn’t something that I read or saw… it was a conversation I had while out in Los Angeles recently. I was visiting with an old friend and we were talking, over coffee, about all the screenplays he has written. He’s a struggling writer out in L.A. trying to make it in ‘the industry’ and he was telling me how he reads 60+ scripts a week and has written 40, 50, 60+ scripts himself. I can’t remember the exact number. I just remember thinking, WOW!

This guy, in my opinion, is one of the most talented screenplay writers I’ve ever met… yet he is struggling. It’s not easy to sell a script in Hollywood. It’s not easy to pitch ideas and get turned down again and again. It’s not easy to keep your spirits up and continue to be motivated to put pen to paper… or rather fingers to keyboard. Yet, he does it. He does it every day, day after day, week after week. He hasn’t given up and neither will I.

His drive to keep going. His determination to continue pursuing his dream inspires me to do the same.

© 2019 Nina Soden


Alright, now it’s your turn. I’d love to see what today’s writing prompt inspires in you. So, if you are willing, go to the comment section below and start typing. Take 5 minutes and let’s see what you come up with! 

What was the last thing you read or saw that really inspired you?


Are you an author looking for inspiration? Take some advice from these amazing authors:

Ransom Riggs, author of Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children says, Start a collection!
Cormac McCarthy, author of ‘The Road’ says to talk to people!
David Mitchell, author of ‘Cloud Atlas’ says to explore extended metaphors!

Are you an author who is looking for ways to stay organized and on track with all your writing goals? Check out my author workbooks below. They are full of all the tools I use in my writing process!

Are you working on a manuscript, but need a little help getting organized? Check out SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK ~ An Indie Author Guide to Outlining and Planning Your Next Novel

It isn’t just for indie-authors. I have filled it with all the tools I’ve learned over the years and use on a regular basis with each book I write.

Want help meeting your writing goals? Check out JUST WRITE: The Ultimate Author’s Bullet Journal


Did Anyone… by Nina Soden

Image by Johannes Plenio from Pixabay

Did anyone ever tell you how wonderful you really are? Did anyone every tell you how deep your emotions are?

Did anyone ever show you all that you can do? Did anyone ever show you that you can be somebody too?

Did anyone ever tell you how special you make them feel? Did anyone ever tell you how you always seem so real?

Did anyone ever show you how to let your feelings go? Did anyone ever show you how to let your feelings show?

Did anyone ever tell you what they think of you? Did anyone ever tell you that you make each day feel new?

All these things to me are clear. All these things, just because you are near!

Dedicated to my baby girl and little boy. Mommy loves you.

(c) copyright 2008 ~ Nina Soden

For more poems, check out by collection on Amazon: Private Words Unspoken

Week 22 – #WritingWednesday Challenge

Today is the 22nd Edition of #WritingWednesday!!!

#WritingWednesday is an EASY, STRESS-FREE, weekly writing challenge.

* Read the writing prompt below,
* Spend 5 minutes writing whatever comes to mind, &
* DON'T EDIT what you write! No need for perfection!

The goal is 5 minutes of creativity!

Today I am writing in the voice of Stella, a character in a series I’m currently writing. 

Today’s writing prompt: 

What is the first thing you do when you wake up every morning?

My name is Stella. Every morning I wake up, in my ten-foot by ten-foot white room, to the sound of an alarm blaring just outside my door at precisely 5:45am. I have fifteen minutes to go to the bathroom, brush my teeth and hair, and change into a freshly cleaned uniform.

At 6:00am the guards open my bedroom door and escort me down a long corridor to the stairwell. We don’t take the elevator; they say the exercise stimulates active brain function. No, we take the stairs down seven floors into the sub-basement of the corporate offices of Operation Atlas. Once there, and only for about ten minutes while we change shifts, I get to see one of the other watchmen.

There are four of us, four watchmen. We work in shifts of six-hours at a time. I’m the youngest, so I start at exactly 6:30am and end at 12:30pm on the dot. They never leave any of us hooked into the system longer than six hours. They don’t say why, but I have a feeling I wouldn’t want to know the reason anyway.

At 12:20pm the next watchmen comes in and they start the shift change protocol. I’m out of the room at exactly 12:30pm and escorted back up the staircase and back to my room.

© 2019 Nina Soden

* * * * * 

Alright, now it’s your turn. I’d love to see what today’s writing prompt inspires in you. So, if you are willing, go to the comment section below and start typing. Take 5 minutes and let’s see what you come up with!  

What is the first thing you do when you wake up every morning?

* * * * * 

Would you like more sources for daily writing inspiration and prompts? Click on the images below for great writing journals and/or prompts I think you’ll really love!

* * * * * 

Are you an author who is looking for ways to stay organized and on track with all your writing goals? Check out my author workbooks below. They are full of all the tools I use in my writing process!

Are you working on a manuscript, but need a little help getting organized? Check out SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A BOOK ~ An Indie Author Guide to Outlining and Planning Your Next Novel

It isn’t just for indie-authors. I have filled it with all the tools I’ve learned over the years and use on a regular basis with each book I write

Want help meeting your writing goals? Check out JUST WRITE: The Ultimate Author’s Bullet Journal

Track your project progress along with daily and monthly word count goals/actuals. Plan your writing and publishing goals, maintain your personal/business to do list, never miss another deadline or appointment again, keep track of writing ideas, schedule and log social sharing and blog post ideas, keep a record of books you’re reading or want to read, maintain a running playlist, etc.


My Car To Your Door by Nina Soden

Image by Peter H from Pixabay

The walk is a little long, but I don’t care. Thinking of what I might say when I get there.

The wind blows through the trees and on my face. With each step, I speed up my pace.

Anticipation begins to boil deep within. Hold back, I cannot, this grin.

I know I should just turn around. But then your voice, I remember the sound.

I picture you there standing proud. My mind wants to scream out loud.

For a moment I stop, still in the night.

Go forward, turn back! My mind begins to fight.

Reluctant I turn and head back to my car. Knowing the house was not nearly as far.

I remember the way you listen. Then, again my eyes glisten.

Toward your door I hurry on to see. Once there what will become of me?

Up the stairs I slowly go. Are you home? I don’t even know.

I knock on the door and my heart begins to race. Then, all of a sudden everything stops when I see your face.

The walk is a little long, but I don’t care. Thinking of what I might say when I get there.

Dedicated to my amazing husband. I love you today and always.

(c) copyright 2008 ~ Nina Soden

For more poems, check out by collection on Amazon: Private Words Unspoken

#Theredheadedauthor Presents the July 2019 New York Times TOP 10 Best Sellers – FICTION

As an avid reader of fiction (and an author who one day hopes to make the list) I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE checking out the New York Times Best Seller list. So, here it is… The independently ranked top 10 Fiction selections for JULY 2019!

If you’ve read any of the TOP 10 selections and recommend them, please comment below and let me know. If you see something you like and plan to pick up a copy, you can do so by clicking on the title or the (BUY IT HERE) button.


#1 Summer of ’69

by Elin Hilderbrand

The Levin family undergoes dramatic events with a son in Vietnam, a daughter in protests and dark secrets hiding beneath the surface.


ARE YOU READY FOR AMAZON PRIME DAY?

#2 Where the Crawdads Sing

by Delia Owens

TEXTIn a quiet town on the North Carolina coast in 1969, a young woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.TEXT


#3 The Reckoning

by John Grisham

TEXTA decorated World War II veteran shoots and kills a pastor inside a Mississippi church.TEXT


#4 City of Girls

by Elizabeth Gilbert

An 89-year old Vivian Morris looks back at the direction her life took when she entered the 1940s New York theater scene.


#5 Mrs. Everything

by Jennifer Weiner

The story of two sisters, Jo and Bethie Kaufman, and their life experiences as the world around them changes drastically from the 1950s.


Want to read the TOP 10 on a Kindle?


#6 Before We Were Yours

by Lisa Wingate

A South Carolina lawyer learns about the questionable practices of a Tennessee orphanage.


#7 Unsolved

by James Patterson and David Ellis

A string of seemingly accidental and unrelated deaths confound F.B.I. agent Emmy Dockery.


#8 Little Fires Everywhere

by Celeste Ng

An artist with a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo upends a quiet town outside Cleveland.


#9 The Tattooist of Auschwitz

by Heather Morris

A concentration camp detainee tasked with permanently marking fellow prisoners falls in love with one of them.


#10 Good Omens

by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Aziraphale, an angel and rare-book dealer, and his demon friend Crowley try to circumvent the end of the world.