I’m on record as saying that 2025 was, for me personally, a really great year. I released four books and started finally finding my audience. I wrote two complete books. I started working professionally in editing and graphic design, including making all my own book covers, making new covers for many of my older books in the process, as well as covers for friends. I created an author career plan […]
In Which I Get Knocked on my Ass Read More »
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 »
I’m on record talking about what a shit year this was for me. Not going to review that here. But it was also a year of incredible growth and learning, so as the year ends, I want to review the important things that I learned. I learned that I could survive and accomplish things when everything is falling apart, but only up to a certain point. Yes, I can
I’ve been doing a deep dive into worldbuilding lately because that’s where I identified I most needed to level up. And I have so many ideas for worlds, characters, and stories that the hard part is realizing that I can’t do everything at once, and I know from experience that I can’t draft more than one book at a time. So, I used my favorite coping strategy, making a
The State of Things Read More »
It’s been a rough couple of months. Sometimes, I have a real ‘my eyes are bigger than my stomach’ thing going on when it comes to things I want to do and accomplish. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, but it does lead me into situations where I am stressed and overwhelmed and wondering why. I read something lately, I think it was in Ali Abdal’s ‘Stress-Free Productivity,’
The Art of Winnowing Read More »
I’ve read a lot of writing craft books over the course of my life, and I thought it would be interesting to talk about my favorites. In general, I don’t like books that are very proscriptive. The ones who give you one correct path you must follow to accomplish your goal. The best ones help you think about things in new ways, and help you put your work
My Favorite Craft Books Read More »
I know, I know. You hate rules. I hate rules too. Rules are stupid, can often be reductive, and are not to be trusted. But I have stumbled upon a set of rules that really helps focus me on how I want to show up in the world, how I behave and interact with people. So, maybe we shouldn’t think of these as rules, so much as principles we can
I’m going to be honest here, people, it’s been a rough couple of weeks. I thought I had everything worked out with regards to my housing situation, but in the middle of march it became apparent that my fiancé and I were not going to be approved for a mortgage on my house, and my parents desperately needed to sell it, so the hammer fell. My fiancé moved back to
It’s been a busy couple of months here at stately Grayson-Coats manor. A lot going on. Like, a lot a lot. Jimmy and I spent a few weeks furiously planning the wedding. We have a tentative date (Oct 12th), and we pretty much have our colors (grey and purple) and the overall flow of the ceremony, as well as our attendants selected. Our priest has agreed to marry us (which
The State of Things Read More »