About a year ago a super famous author spoke to my writer group (Apex Writers) during a zoom meeting. This man has sold millions of copies of his books and he’s a household name at least in the SFF world. Now, our group is made up of a lot of different writers at various levels in their careers, to people just starting out to people like me who’ve published 10+ […]
You Will Have to Make Your Own Path Read More »
A while back on Threads (of course) I saw a craft-related comment that went something like this: People are leaving one and two stars reviews on my book because they say the plot wasn’t resolved, but it’s clear this is the first book in a series. Of course, the plot is not resolved! How do I get my readers to be more patient? And, like, bold of you to assume
Craft 101 – Satisfying Installments Read More »
A 101 Level Craft question I see all the time! I see a lot of mostly newbie writers asking version of this basic question: How do I write filler scenes, or scenes in which nothing important happens but feel necessary (for some reason) to pad out the word count and not make everything seem rushed? How can I make those scenes interesting? and my sibling in Christ I’m going to
Craft 101 – Writing ‘Filler’ Scenes Read More »
Welp, I had high hopes for starting out this year. I wanted to hit the ground running with The Radiant Tomb (The Circle and the Shadow Book 2) and really make great progress through the book In January. But when the very first workday arrived, I came down with some sort of Respiratory virus, which basically ate a week and a half of my productivity. But there’s the thing: This
One thing I need to do in the new year, is to take care of myself better. Specifically, take care of my body. I know this seems like a weird statement coming from me because I’ve written several times about my successful fitness journey over the last year or so, but there are still some things out of balance. And I’m going to be super honest about this with you
New Body Manifesto Read More »
I’m already on record, stating how 2025 was a banner year for me. I feel kind of weird stating that, since it sucked so bad for so many other people, but for me it went really well (effects of the national and international shitshow notwithstanding). I had four releases, wrote two entire novels, moved into graphic design professionally, and established a work and life schedule that was productive and, more
Slow Burn, Long Tail Read More »
2025 was kind of a big year for me, even if it wasn’t in any major groundbreaking way (I did not crack the USA Today list, sorry to say). However … I published 4 books: Beneath the Silent Stars (Broken Stars Finale)Ghosts of Exile and Other Stories (My first short story collection) World Enough and Time (Standalone Contemporary Sci-Fi romance) The Lion and the Sparrow (Standalone Fantasy Romance) I ended
2025 Year in Review Read More »
As humans, we have the tendency to frame things in terms of future circumstances. I’ll be happy when … After this week things will calms down … when I finish these projects I can finally relax … Once these three things happen, I will be satisfied … and this feels true to us, because why wouldn’t it? And to a certain extent, when the goals are centered on removing obstacles
I’ve recently stumbled upon a concept that directly relates to which creative processes work for which people. This certainly applies to me, and maybe other people will find it helpful. Here goes … I think we all can agree that everyone’s brain is on a spectrum between order and chaos. WE call this the left brain/right brain thing, but the left/right construct is a fallacy that is not actually how
Chaos, Order, and Creativity Read More »
This one’s kind of a quickie, because I’m probably going to need to go into protective custody once you’re all done reading it, and I really need to pack. Writers, I love you, I really do, so take this advice in the spirit in which it is intended… Writing Advice No One Wants to Hear If you’ve been working on the same book for ten years and it’s still not
Writing Advice No One Wants to Hear Read More »