We hear it all the time. How just “be you, and everything works out!” It sounds like a platitude after a while. Especially when you’re not one of the people society usually wants to hear from. The disabled, the neurodivergent, the minority, the queer. While being entirely authentic to ourselves in public spaces is a...Read More

I don’t so much have advice this week as I do have reflection. Coming up on April 8th, I have my first author event. It’s not a huge one, but it’s still more than I’ve ever done before. I’m going to be on a panel at my local library and selling books afterward. Now, you...Read More

When I first did the math to see how much editing per book cost, my heart just about jumped out of my chest. Holy crap, it was that much? I know how my clients feel the first time they see the numbers for an estimate. It’s not cheap. Not at all cheap. Or, if it...Read More

Okay, so last week we talked about tension. How to use it, what it is, and how I define it. Now that we’ve gone through that, let’s talk about this new method of story crafting I created accidentally for the conference while planning my talk on story structure. Yes, I did plan it late at...Read More

I don't identify tension as the stakes of a story. The stakes are the stakes. They can be high or low. That's sort of dependent on the story itself and its ins and outs. But tension is more akin to potential energy.Read More

So, with the rise of the machines and AI infiltrating everything from art to writing, we now need to consider what in the hell we’re going to do about it? Let me start by saying I don’t hate AI as a concept. In fact, I have found some interesting uses for ChatGPT and if apps...Read More

This year has been a nail-biter from the start to the finish. Lots of ups and downs and life changes and figuring things out. To bullet point it rather than write out everything long form (because you’d be here for hours): Released Fallen in January Had my shoulder surgery in March and was able to...Read More

As we hit the middle of NaNoWriMo, many of you are shooting for your 1,667 – 2,000 words per day and trying to meet your deadlines. Fear of falling behind and the constant, looming sense that you aren’t writing fast enough dogs many writers at this point in the process, and I want to step...Read More

Writers are typically categorized into two camps: plotting and pantsing. And never the twain shall meet. These two categories have been around as long as I’ve been in the industry (over fifteen years now), and they’re talked about in countless books about writing and publishing as the two primary methods used to craft a book....Read More

As I write this in early July, there’s something going on, on TikTok which, you may or may not know, is my primary marketing platform. I have between 1,500 and 1,600 followers as I write this, and the number is slowly growing and reflects a lot of hard work and time I’ve put in over...Read More