Why I Started A Novel Idea
Before I worked in tech.
Before I led retreats in Ireland.
Before I built a storytelling company that spanned from 9-year-olds to 90-year-olds...
I was teaching college English in Nashville.
And every semester, my students kept getting “better” on paper — higher test scores, more impressive GPAs — but when I assigned a writing project? They panicked.
Didn’t matter if it was 500 words or 5,000. The pattern was always the same:
Procrastinate.
Pull an all-nighter.
Turn in a bad draft they hated.
Get a D.
Spend the next three weeks arguing about the grade instead of writing something new.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
One day, I vented to a colleague and said, “I wish there were writing immersion programs — like when people go live in Guatemala for a summer and come back fluent in Spanish.”
She looked at me and said, “That’s brilliant. You should do that.”
So I did.
So I spent the next year deeply investigating the quesstion:
What if kids could write a novel over summer break?
No grades. No pressure. No perfectionism.
Just volume. Just voice. Just play.
I taught mini-classes all over Nashville. I read everything I could about how kids learn new skills. And I kept coming back to this:
Kids learn to walk, talk, and kick soccer balls through play — not correction.
We don’t scold babies for babbling.
We cheer them on when they fall down.
We don’t roll our eyes at four-year-olds who can’t bend it like Beckham.
We create a culture of encouragement.
We let them try.
We let them suck.
We let them keep going.
But the moment they start writing in school?
We grade them.
We compare them to their classmates.
We red-pen their sentences.
We rank them.
And it breaks my heart — because writing is supposed to be freedom.
So I built something different.
I built a camp where kids could write novels.
Not because they were “good enough.” But because they wanted to try.
A place where word nerds could find their people.
Where the point wasn’t competition — it was creation.
Where success wasn’t measured by a rubric, but by showing up and filling the page.
And we did it.
Over 1,500 kids have now written with us.
But it didn’t stop there.
As I moved through the tech world and into adulthood, I realized something else:
It’s not just kids who need this.
It’s all of us.
We all need a place to be seen.
A place to tell the truth.
A place where our stories matter — not because they’re perfect, but because they’re ours.
So today, A Novel Idea is bigger than a summer camp.
It’s a home for anyone with a story — whether you’re a teenager, a traveler, or a grandmother writing your legacy.
It’s a community.
It’s a return to voice.
It’s proof that creativity isn’t just for the gifted — it’s for the willing.
And it all started with that one question:
What if we said yes to writing the way we say yes to play?
👉 Want to join us?
We’d love to welcome you — wherever you are on the map or on your journey.
Tiny Stories: Memoir for Seniors & Families
Or just send me a note. I read every one.
Come write with us.
Let it be messy.
Let it be fun.
Let it be yours.
