Kimberly Wall Writes

Tapping in to Inspiration

Today, I sat down to write a post about where I have been and where I am going. I had intended to write about the past three years, which have been extraordinary, but my fingers took a different direction.

A few years ago, the leader of a workshop I was attending instructed us to open our notebooks to a new page and write for ten minutes about where we imagined ourselves to be in five years. Add as much detail as you can, she said — where you are, who you’re with, and what’s on your résumé.

At that stage of my life, I was an intense planner. I had a job in banking and lived by the clock — calls, reports, quotas. I grabbed my pen and went to work.

My pen somehow attached itself to my inner self, and what ended up on that page had nothing to do with meeting goals or earning another certificate.

The reason I signed up for that series of workshops was to be more productive, more successful happier in my job. After all, I was a rising star at my bank, a top performer who consistently met her goals and worked on an MBA in her spare time.

It turned out to be a quest to change my life and finally listen to my inner voice rather than the well-meaning advice that had brought me to that point. And my problem was that I didn’t know who I was, either.

“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” — Carl Jung

What didn’t show up on any monthly report were the nightmares that came regularly, or the jaw pain from grinding my teeth. Success on paper didn’t quiet the mind at 2 a.m.

Two years before, in the first year of my MBA program, I took the Kirton Adaption–Innovation Inventory (KAI). My score on innovation was so high that my professor pulled me aside and told me I was a terrible fit for corporate life — that I should consider a career change.

But walking away wasn’t an option. Not yet. For a girl with working-class Appalachian roots, I was making all the right moves. I was becoming someone the people in the big white house would accept as one of them.

So here I was in this workshop, where I had written down my imagined life on paper — a vision that had nothing to do with completing the Certified Financial Advisor program my bank had planned for me. Instead, it was about finding a creative pursuit, something that would feed my soul instead of impressing people I didn’t really like in the first place.

The workshop leader called time, and we put down our pens. What followed was a discussion about planning, imagining our future, and our attachment to outcomes. And then, much to my crushing disappointment, we were asked to pick up our pages and tear them up.

I did, but the spark was lit and would soon become a wildfire — one that swept through my life and landed me here, though through a route so circuitous that even I could never have imagined it.

Still unfolding

I didn’t know it then, but that torn-up page was part of a journey that continues today. The spark I felt that day wasn’t new — it was simply the moment I finally paid attention.

That same current eventually carried me to Nashville and into a life that feels like my own.

Always a Reader

Books form the basis of my earliest memories. The sound of my mother’s voice reading from her well-worn copy of Time for Poetry. Sitting cross-legged on the library floor, listening to Mrs. Maxwell read Curious George. Absorbing the lesson as my older sister worked on her reading homework.

I’ve been a voracious reader all my life, consuming any kind of material I could get my hands on – poetry, early readers, then textbooks, and novels. When I became committed to learning the craft of writing fiction, I noticed a shift in my reading approach.

Reading Transformed by Writing

Whereas I once read anything that caught my eye, I became more discerning. After all, if you are what you eat, it stands to reason that what you read becomes what you write.

Stephen King, in On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, puts it plainly:

“The more you read, the less likely you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor.”

King calls writing a lot and reading a lot the twin pillars of successful writing.

A Lesson from my of Reading

One night, reading far too late, I caught myself wondering why I couldn’t stop turning pages. What was the author doing that kept me so engaged? I began pausing mid-chapter to examine not just what I was reading but how it worked.

I find myself doing that more and more now — thinking, as both a reader and writer, about why a story pulls me in or pushes me away.

Seeing a Favorite Book with New Eyes

This practice has changed how I experience even familiar works. My Reading Like a Writer Book Club selected Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood for the June read. Published in 1965, it was credited as the first non-fiction novel. I reread it for perhaps the fourth time, but now with a craftsman’s eye. I wanted to see how Capote wove his spell.

Crafting Character Through Description

As I study fiction more deeply, I’ve come to see In Cold Blood as one of the best examples of how description can reveal character. Capote’s language feels plain at first, but it’s quietly powerful — every detail draws you deeper into his world.

Why does it work? His descriptions don’t just show us the scene; they make us feel its weight. The stark western Kansas landscape becomes a stage for what is to come.

Just as he grounds us in place, Capote also grounds us in people. Through their routines, their quiet virtues, their everyday normalcy, we come to know Herb Clutter and his family — and by the time the four shotgun blasts shatter the quiet of the Kansas prairie, we feel the loss on a human level.

When the author introduces Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, the first line of their section mirrors an earlier one about Herb Clutter:

“Like Mr. Clutter, the young man breakfasting in a café called the Little Jewel never drank coffee.”

By the end of that passage, we understand that the two men — Clutter and Smith — inhabit opposite moral and emotional worlds. Capote doesn’t tell us this; he shows us through the same lens of daily detail. The reader makes the connection instinctively.

With description alone, he manages to bring everyone to life — the victims, the killers, even the investigators chasing them.

My Takeaway

What I took away from the book is simple: who we are shows up in our actions even more than in our words.

Now, as I read, I keep asking myself the same question that first stopped me mid-page that night: Why is this story gripping? What is keeping me here? And when I find the answer, when I can see the craft behind the story — that’s when reading becomes more than pleasure. It becomes an apprenticeship.

Reading like a writer turns every book into an opportunity to improve our craft.

Application  to This Challenge

Even if you’re not writing fiction, reading with a writer’s eye changes the way you experience stories — and blog posts, too.

When you read another participant’s post this week, try noticing how it pulls you in:

– What kind of opening makes you keep reading?
– What specific details help you feel connected to the writer?
– Where do you sense emotion — even if it’s subtle?
– Does the post’s structure create a sense of flow or surprise?

Those same questions we ask of Capote’s In Cold Blood — why does this work? And what makes it stay with me? — can help you read blog posts with greater curiosity and generosity.

When you read this way, visiting another blog stops feeling like a task — it starts feeling like discovery. You begin to see each writer’s choices — even in small things like paragraph breaks or word rhythms — as deliberate tools for connection.

A Simple Challenge for Today

As you read two other blogs, choose one moment that lingers with you — a sentence, an image, or an idea.

Ask yourself: Why does this part work so well?
Leave a comment that mentions it specifically.

You’ll not only make someone’s day — you’ll sharpen your own ability to see what makes writing memorable.

One Writer’s Journey

Some projects linger on our to-do lists far too long. For me, starting this blog has been one of them. The irony? I was an early adopter of blogging and even built a career helping others use it as a marketing tool. I know the power of consistent writing — and now I’m finally ready to use it for my own goals.

I’ve learned there’s no perfect moment to begin. Life doesn’t hand us ideal conditions; it hands us now. And I flourish when there’s accountability and deadlines — which is why I’m jumping into this October blogging challenge.

Lessons from NaNoWriMo

In 2021, I signed up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), a creative writing challenge where writers commit to drafting 50,000 words of a manuscript in November. I completed the challenge in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Those projects generated material that ranged from deeply personal (grappling with my husband’s suicide) to a coming-of-age story to a corporate thriller.

In 2021 and 2022, I proved to myself that I could write with discipline and volume. But I also discovered the limitations of “pantsing” — writing “by the seat of your pants,” without an outline. My first two efforts left me with drafts that were impossible to edit.

Embracing Structure

That lesson pushed me to embrace structure — and to discover Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody, a framework for turning raw ideas into a workable story. I committed to devote October to preparing an outline to guide my November writing.

At the end of NaNoWriMo 2023, I had a solid draft of a novel. This was a significant achievement, one that I am immensely proud of. According to NaNoWriMo, only 10–15% of people who start the challenge actually complete it. That sense of accomplishment continues to fuel my writing journey.

The Hard Truth About Rewriting

What I quickly learned was that completing a draft was only the first step on a long journey to producing a novel that’s ready to publish.

“Books aren’t written—they’re rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.”
— Michael Crichton

Where I Am Now

On the journey from draft to debut novel, I’ve overcome obstacles and learned about myself, both as a writer and a person. As the second November since completing the first draft of my novel rolls around, I’m more determined than ever to publishing it.

That’s where I am now: rewriting to create a novel that will engage readers from the opening paragraph.

Over the next month, I’ll be posting regularly — sharing my progress as I refine my prose, hone my craft, and expand my platform.

I’d love for you to follow along, leave a comment, and share your own experiences.