The Princess Blog

In the eight years that I've had this blog , I've written about all sorts of magical fairy tale princesses from various types of media , but I rarely focus on real people . That's because the combination of kindness , beauty , and popularity , while still remaining genuine enough to avoid spreading  toxic positivity , is nearly impossible to embody in a real-life role model. That is, however, unless your name is Taylor Alison Swift , a woman who makes her money being pretty and witty. I have been a Swifty since the first time I heard "Teardrops on My Guitar" on the radio around 2008, and I am so proud of everything she has accomplished, particularly with her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl , which I think is one of her best yet. I cannot begin to tell you the number of ways this woman has inspired me in my creative endeavors, relationships, and difficult periods of my life, but that doesn't make me special. She's done the same for millions of people ...

I have been working on a screenplay with my husband called Forgotten Love Spell , so I thought it would be helpful to write out a scene to give myself a better understanding of our protagonist, similar to the short stories I wrote for The Stolen Jewel . Forgotten Love Spell  is a tragic romance between a princess and a wizard who gives up his memories to cast spells. I may or may not keep this scene in the screenplay, but it provides a good insight into what's going on in Princess Henrietta's head. If you read this, please let me know in the comments what you think and if you have any suggestions. Forgotten Love Spell: "Henrietta's Nightmare" "No!" Princess Henrietta looked on in horror as her father took his final breath. Graylor had never been the best father or king, but he was the only thing standing between Captain Lars and full control of Brodor. Lars laughed maniacally as he removed the bloody sword from Graylor's chest. If her father had onl...

To celebrate  500 posts in The Princess Blog , I'm participating in the Book Owl Word Search (BOWS) along with many other talented writers. Each author has a secret word hidden somewhere in their blog. If you can find and collect all the secret words, you get a chance to win a prize! I'm on the orange team. You can learn more about the challenge on the Snowy Wings Publishing website . For my entry, I decided to release the bonus chapter from my book, The Stolen Slipper , which had only been published in the Kindle box set for The Stolen Trilogy until now. This chapter is from the perspective of James, the "Prince Charming" character from my reimagining of  "Cinderella,"  who is also  Lily's brother from The Stolen Queen , the second book in the trilogy .   After you read the chapter, you will find a link to the next blog in this challenge. I hope you have fun learning about these talented authors and searching for their hidden words.

Three years ago today, I decided to create a safe space on the internet for people who love princesses and fairy tales as much as I do. My social media feed had become too political, and the people I could discuss the latest princess shows with were few and far between. I had just gotten married and celebrated my birthday, so I was in a great place to do something just for me. Thus, The Princess Blog was born. In the beginning, I made a new post everyday, starting with an analysis of Disney Princesses . Now, I share roughly two updates a week, but my level of passion has not shifted as I continue to pursue new princess content to enjoy and review. I've also worked on other writing projects over the years. The biggest of these is  The Stolen Trilogy . I wanted to create a world similar to my favorite show, Princess Gwenevere, and the Jewel Riders , by exploring the lives three royal ladies who lived together in a castle and went on their own magical adventures. This week, the tril...

If you are already subscribed to my mailing list , you probably received an email this morning that my book The Stolen Queen  is now available on Amazon for Kindle and paperback. I was going to wait until August for the anniversary of The Princess Blog , but with all the awful things going on right now, I thought it would be nice to give my readers a chance to relax and escape from their towers . The Stolen Queen  is a sequel to The Stolen Jewel , but it can easily be enjoyed as a standalone story due to the new protagonist and setting. I decided to follow in the footsteps of the other authors I read  and give each of the royal ladies  of Klingland her own book. In case you missed it, I also published a short story from the perspective of Denise  in my blog a few months ago as a free prequel to The Stolen Trilogy. The final book will be told from the perspective of Lady Krystal, who has a great number of misdeeds to make up for. Just like The Stolen Jew...

Two years ago today, I thought about how far my professional career had strayed from my true passion now that I was in my 30s . What was I doing to create my own happy ending? Sure, I had written a few books  and had recently gotten married , but I didn't feel like I was living my life to the fullest and celebrating my love of fairy tales and storytelling. That's when I decided to start a blog. The topic for my blog was obvious. I've loved princess stories my entire life, and there are more of them out there now than ever. Starting The Princess Blog  not only gave me an excuse to continue indulging in my fandoms, but it also forced me to write every day. I now have over 300 posts about everything from movies to books to lifestyle guides . It's gone through a few changes over the past couple of years, such as posting every week instead of every day as well as one major cosmetic makeover, but its basic philosophies remain the same as they have always been for the last ...

I've written before about how princesses inspire me  during daily life, but I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to these stories when it comes to my creative endeavors. Fairy tales have been evolving for hundreds of years . The solidarity between the storytellers who pass these tales along to new generations so we can retell them in unique ways is incredibly motivating to me as an aspiring writer. It sets an idea in place to get the creative gears turning while opening up possibilities to create something entirely new and original. Being that today is Mothers Day, I'd also like to point out that mothers who share princess stories with their daughters empower them with endless potential to play make-believe in a world where anything is possible and girl can be anyone or anything they desire. It isn't just the stories themselves that act as a catalyst for creative minds. Mythological, royal, and fairy tale women have been portrayed in artwork for just as long as their st...

Some time ago, I promised that I would turn my story The Stolen Jewel  into an original full-length screenplay under the UCLA Professional Program for Screenwriting . I am pleased to announce that I successfully completed my polished first draft a few weeks ago. The Stolen Jewel  is not the first princess story I have ever written, but it is one of the few that was not adapted from a pre-existing fairy tale . Through the program, I received incredibly valuable feedback that carried my writing to a level that I didn't even realize was possible. I also learned a lot about how people respond to modern princess stories and how that attitude has changed over the years . I am so happy with how  The Stolen Jewel  has turned out, and I would like to share some of my experience working on it with you. My intention with The Stolen Jewel  was to reverse the tired old "Cinderella" formula of "rags to riches" by telling the story of a princess who starts out ha...

One year ago today, I decided I needed a better outlet for my writing. I hadn't released any new books  in a few years, and I was on an indefinite hiatus from my screenwriting. I needed a way to share my love of fairy tales and dreams that would be easily accessible to a wider audience. It needed to a place where I could share my knowledge with the world without getting too personal. Thus,  The Princess Blog  was born. A princess-themed blog seemed like the obvious choice, given that once upon a time, I ran a large Disney Princess fan group on LiveJournal, produced a hefty number of princess music video mash-ups, and later earned the nickname "Princess" at one of my office jobs. Around the time I started my blog, I was a fan of the women's news site HelloGiggles  and noticed that they had been posting fewer princess articles than they used to. The Princess Blog needed to be a resource that people could depend on for the latest princess news, so I developed the...

Instead of bringing you a new short story this Saturday, I am celebrating over 500 likes on my Facebook page  with a relaunch of all the novels I wrote! The covers have been completely redesigned using stock images and Photoshop. I have also lowered the prices for all the Kindle versions. This weekend only, I have a special promotion happening in which the first book I ever wrote, Elf Princess Roweena , and my poetry anthology, Castle , are completely free! You can find the complete list on my Amazon page . I was inspired to do this relaunch by fellow author Lyssa Chiavari of Snowy Wings Publishing  who created the new cover for Elf Princess Roweena . She referred me to some resources about indie publishing, and I realized how much self-publishing has changed since I wrote my last book, Blood Red , back in 2013. It's a lot easier to market yourself as a writer now thanks to Kindle Direct Publishing and other online marketing resources. Since I will be working on my...