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Brandi Easterling Collins, independent author

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Essays, General Thoughts

Embracing the Holidays

I’ve written before that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s still true, and I keep the season pure in my home. I decorate for the seasons, which is a more…

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November 28, 2025
Essays, General Thoughts

Bah! Humbug: What’s Christmas all about?

I find myself identifying with Charlie Brown and Ebenezer Scrooge this year. For some reason, I’m just not in the mood for Christmas. Normally, I love this time of year:…

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December 17, 2016
General Thoughts, Pop Culture

My Favorite Holiday Movies and TV Specials (Even the Guilty Pleasures)

Holiday movies and television specials can be entertaining while evoking nostalgia or sharing a hopeful message. Honestly, I love holiday movies, and I have since I was a kid. My…

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September 9, 2025
  • General Thoughts

    Living with Ulcerative Colitis

    May 19, 2018 /

    Today, May 19, is World IBD Day. For the first 20 years of my life, I lived blissfully unaware of the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), ulcerative colitis (UC). Sure, I’d heard of stomach upset, suffered through childhood digestive woes and stomach viruses, but I didn’t know there was anything more than the ever-fleeting “nervous stomach” term I’d been assigned as a kid. Those first days of school tummy jitters, the clamminess before big tests or speaking in front of the class, the waves of nausea after making an ass of myself in front of my crush, etc. I took an acid-reducing medicine while in 11th grade and the occasional half-tablet…

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    A scary topic: suicide

    April 11, 2017

    Desperately Seeking Friendship

    September 1, 2022

    Day 9: Countdown of my favorite love songs (sweet declarations)

    February 13, 2018
  • General Thoughts,  Novels (my writing updates),  Pop Culture

    Music in Jordan’s Sister

    April 29, 2018 /

    While music is an important element in each of my novels, this is especially true for Jordan’s Sister. Taylor and Layne are singer-songwriters. Their entire lives are filled with music. I’m a writer who can barely carry a tune, and music is such an integral part of my life that I’d be lost without it. To me, music is a doorway straight to the soul, and lyrics are poetry expressed with more feeling than what can be conveyed by words merely spoken. There are 23 songs referenced in the novel. Four songs are featured in their entirety (because I wrote them) and the others are referenced by title only with or…

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    "Collins Family 23" drawn in the sand.

    First summer beach vacation

    July 1, 2023

    My husband: the best example of a good father

    June 17, 2017
    Sketch of movie tickets, popcorn and film

    Movies I Will Watch Again and Again

    April 6, 2026
  • General Thoughts,  Novels (my writing updates)

    Best laid plans: Jordan’s Sister Update

    April 24, 2018 /

    ***UPDATE*** As of April 26, Jordan’s Sister is available in paperback format on Amazon. From April 24, 2018: Today was supposed to be the launch day for Jordan’s Sister, the first novel to be published under Luminesce Publishing. The launch date was a deadline I set myself, so not meeting it isn’t the end of the world. For now, I will have to settle for a partially-met goal. The eBook launched early, on April 21. You can purchase a copy on Amazon.com or read for free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription. There is a “Look inside” feature that allows you to read just past the opening of Chapter 4, which…

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    You May Also Like

    Illustration of older lady waving.

    I’ve been old (but not necessarily wise) my whole life

    June 18, 2024

    Taking Back the “Nerd” Label

    June 23, 2019

    Desperately Seeking Friendship

    September 1, 2022
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Recent Posts

  • Movies I Will Watch Again and Again
  • 2025 in Book Reviews
  • Embracing the Holidays
  • Four Hearts: Coming soon
  • My Favorite Holiday Movies and TV Specials (Even the Guilty Pleasures)

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