Tasha Seegmiller

When my husband started working as a general manager of a hotel that had recently been bought by new owners, he dedicated a good portion of his “not-working” time to understanding how to help people unite. It didn’t take long until he came across Simon Sinek – first TED talks, then supporting YouTube videos and daily email hints, etc. Soon he was listening to the audiobook Start With Why. Many of our subsequent conversations fell along the lines of why it’s important to start with asking why. When I started a new job, I found myself going back time and again to those conversations and listening to the audiobook myself, which is summed up well by…

I’ve almost written this post dozens of times. Really, I’ve written it several times then read it through and deleted it because, well, because I don’t really open myself up to people easily. I have about half a dozen close friends who get to know things that are really real about me, and most everyone else gets some guarded version. But this is an issue I’ve been talking about with my kids, something I’ve told them I want to be open about because there could be genetic markers in me that will pass on to them. And I decided I wanted to tell you, dear reader, about it now because…

I just started playing with an idea for a new book. It’s in such beginning stages that I have possible character names and a decent idea of a fictional location based on some real places I’ve lived. Because I like to infuse a little magic into my writing, I’m also exploring mythologies that incorporate what I think will be key parts of my story. But if you were to ask me what it’s about, I’d say Sisters. I think. And, if this book idea gets an okay from my agent, if it stays a good idea, if it gets picked up by a publisher, and if, someday, I’m talking about…

I was recently engaged in an online conversation where writers were talking about their editing process. The initial poster said something along the lines of, “The way I edited my previous book isn’t working for this one.”  An author in this group whose 3rd book comes out later this year said, “I’m editing my fourth book right now, and none of them have been the same.” I’ve heard more than one writer mention that they thought they knew what they were doing until they started the next book. And I’ve heard many people in response to such statements express how disheartening that is. But I bet, if we are willing to…

I recently attended a class by Sarah M. Eden because I’ve taken courses from her before and she’s a brilliant teacher. I went in knowing I’d learn something, but I didn’t have super high hopes as she was teaching about the plot structures of romance novels, and while mine have subplots that are romantic, I knew I wasn’t completely the target student for the course. Sarah was teaching about how to merge a popular plotting strategy (originally presented by Dan Wells) into a romantic genre. Because of the character-driven nature of what Sarah writes, I was curious to see how she’d merge the strategy into romance. The tricky thing is…

Several years ago, where I live had a wet and relatively mild winter, followed by a fairly mild spring. As tends to be the case, June brought soaring temperatures with the accompanying winds of 30-50 mph. One person, who had been previously warned repeatedly, thought this was the perfect time to burn the dried-out weeds, but the one person set the mountain on fire. Over two weeks later, over 1,000 firefighters were working through incredible heat to fight the flames that ended up consuming 71,000+ acres of mountain forest in the Brian Head fire. I could have told you about the lovely temperatures of spring or the fact that there…

My successes as a baker have been very hit-and-miss. I can make one recipe and a month or two later, when I try to make it again, end up with a failure. Same cook, same products, same mixer, and house and stove and attention and . . . flop. I was reminded of this a week ago when I made a family favorite – Blondies. This single pan of cookie joy is my favorite because I don’t have to stand in the kitchen for two hours putting in and pulling out baked goodies. I’ve made it so many times that I don’t have to flip through the book to find…

I spent the better part of Saturday demolishing a commercial unit. My dad has several units that need to be remodeled as different tenants come in and, since he is out of the country currently, we made a deal that was a win/win and resulted in demolition. The thing that is different about this kind of demolition compared to what you might see on TV is that, because of the nature of the business he is in, saving as many materials as possible is the desired goal. We don’t just go in with sledgehammers and have at it. Instead, we identify the walls that really need to come down, what can stay…

Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do. — Brené Brown At the end of July, much like the end of December, I look forward with great anticipation to the start of a new year. I think of the things I’ll be able to do now that I have a focus, now that the holidays/summer is over, now that . . . And then, just as I have re-re-re-re-discovered, reality and my imagination aren’t quite in sync the way I’d like them to be. I can think about what I want to have happen. I can even tell someone else what I…

I have been *slowly* working through the lessons of Aaron Sorkin’s Masterclass. It wasn’t a difficult decision for me to take because The American President is one of my favorite movies and The West Wing has yet to be beaten out of its spot for the best TV show (though Madam Secretary is currently a great contender). I wanted to hear how this man crafts stories, what his process is, and see if there is a way to improve my own process (who am I kidding – there is ALWAYS room for improvement). Needless to say, the $90 commitment was not hard for me to make. I have paused the lessons several times to jot down…