January has a funny way of making everyone feel like they are required to rebrand themselves as if the calendar has issued a legally binding personality update. New year, new mindset, new habits, new handwriting, possibly a new soul. Meanwhile I am over here quietly opening the same notebooks, sharpening the same metaphorical pencils, and doing the exact same thing I have always done when I care about something. Researching. Studying. Lining things up. Making…
Posts published in “Informational”
Back in 2018 I wrote a blog post about a discovery that excited me more than it probably should have. I had stumbled onto an old short story that fit perfectly into the novel I was writing at the time. I called it patchwork writing. It felt like I had found a forgotten puzzle piece that clicked into place as if it had always belonged there. Seven years later the idea still holds true. Only…
Some people outline entire novels at a desk. Some conjure brilliant scenes in a coffee shop. For me, creativity likes to show up with wet hair. There is something about water that flips the switch in my brain from everyday life to pure imagination. Maybe it is the rhythm. Maybe it is the absence of distraction. Maybe my muse just likes a good shampoo. Whatever the reason I have lost count of the ideas that…
Every writer loves a good twist. The moment where a reader sits up a little straighter. The moment a quiet assumption shatters. The goal is always the same. Surprise them. Do not betray them. A twist is not chaos. It is clarity arriving with perfect timing. When done well it feels like light flooding into a dark room. Suddenly everything that came before makes sense. The reader might gasp. They might toss the book across…
I entered a writing contest recently. I was not chasing prestige. I was not trying to prove anything. I already won an award years ago with my debut novel, which is still wild to me considering it had enough formatting issues to make an editor burst into tears. This time I was mostly in it for the prize money. I am an indie author with bills, after all. If my work could give me a…
Some people talk to plants. I talk to characters… usually when they show up uninvited while I’m doing something else entirely. People sometimes ask if I’m working on my fourth book right now. If “working” means sitting at the keyboard, brow furrowed, typing furiously into the night, the answer is… not exactly. But if “working” means mentally rehearsing scenes while cooking, negotiating with characters while folding laundry, and collecting story fuel from everyday life like…
For years, I used a certain popular video tool that shall remain nameless. Not because I’m afraid to name names, but because if you’ve ever used it, you probably already know who I’m talking about. It was the starter kit of video creation platforms. Simple, structured, and surprisingly decent when you’re just getting your feet wet in the wild world of book trailers and content marketing. Back then, it was exactly what I needed. I…
There’s a quiet fatigue settling over authors, and it doesn’t come from the writing. It’s not the editing, the rewrites, or the endless battles with self-doubt. It’s not the algorithm, or the market, or even the low sales numbers. It’s the growing tide of unsolicited messages that slide into our inboxes like clockwork, asking if our books are on Amazon (yes), offering services we never asked for, and failing, in every possible way, to show…
There’s a silence that comes after a book is born. Not the kind that brings peace, but the kind that rattles inside your ribs—echoing through the empty corners once filled by characters, conflict, and craft. As writers, we spend months—sometimes years—growing a story. We nurture it, worry over it, rewrite its flaws, and chase perfection like it owes us something. The book takes up residence in our minds and our bones. It whispers when we’re…
There’s a whispered assumption that fiction writers are always spilling someone’s tea—just dressing it up in fantasy or fog and hoping no one recognizes the teacup. And while I won’t confirm or deny such claims (my legal team and sense of self-preservation would both like a word), I will say this: real life has a way of showing up in fiction whether you invite it or not. Sometimes it starts with a moment. A single…