Hi Reader, It seems I have to apologize again; and I'm so sorry for not sending an email last week! Things had just caught up with me with Kyan being quite ill for a couple of days and a deadline I had last Friday. And... it seems I won't be emailing you in the next 2 weeks either because I'm going on a holiday! My parents are celebrating their 40th anniversary, and they invited us to come to Gran Canaria with them. It'll be Kyan's first time on a plane, so I wonder how he'll react to it....
22 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, First off, I apologize for not sending any email last week. My kiddo was sick with fever (the flu, I think), so last week was a bit hectic. He's okay now, although still a bit more sleepy than usual. Admittedly, my mind is currently also elsewhere, as I have a book launch coming up in a month. One thing I've been doing quite actively is search for ARC readers. If you're on social media as an author, you've probably seen some of the insanely high number of signups some authors get....
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, The topic of today's email is brought to you by me, finally fixing one of my POV characters' arcs. Suddenly, everything fell into place: the challenge he'd face, the situations he'd uncover, and what he'd learn from it. This fits with the way I write: my stories lean a bit more toward character-driven decisions, and how I want my characters to evolve informs the plot. So this might not fit with how you prefer to write, and that's okay. But even if character arcs don't quite matter...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, I always love Thursdays. It's my day off to spend with the kiddo. Granted, sometimes I'm so wrapped up in my work that all I really want to do is continue working, and on Wednesday I can get a bit annoyed that I can't work Thursday. But then Thursday arrives, and the kiddo reminds me it's good to have a day off and be in the moment. Enjoy the time I have with my kid. Because before I know it, he'll be a grubby teenager who'll be perpetually embarassed by me. Which has absolutely...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader, I'm a bit emotional today. I've been working on my next book in a new series and a new genre. And I've been gathering ARC readers and started out sending the ARCs last week. And today I got an email from an ARC reader saying they read my book in a day and loved it. I've never had a reader do that before; not with my previously published duology. Which means I'm probably doing something right this time around. Needless to say, I saved their email in a special folder so I can take it...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, My son's having a playdate tomorrow. It's so wild to me. He still seems like my little baby, and now he actually has a playdate with his BFF from daycare. He's 2.5 years old, and I definitely wasn't expecting this yet. (I thought for sure play dates only started after he'd start preschool.) It's just another reminder of how fast he's growing up. Nostalgia aside, I also read an email today from Janice Hardy (if you're not subscribed to her email list Fiction University, you should!...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Whew, that was quite something! I don't think I've ever done like a proper "launch" thing before, so it was definitely educational (and a little nerve-racking). To those of you who bought the course: thank you so much! And I'm excited to help you along your writing journey. And to everyone else, thanks for bearing with me throughout that launch. I'll (mostly) shut up about it now. So. Let's go through something nice and actionable, shall we? Since I've been talking a lot about line...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, Last day, so I want to share something a bit personal. Before I published my first novel, I spent a long time trying to write a different one. I kept restarting it. Redrafting, from the beginning, over and over—each time getting to a certain point where something felt off, and not quite being able to figure out what. So I'd start again. Eventually I took the plunge and hired a writing coach. It was a significant investment, but it changed things. Over time, my skills actually grew...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Two days left on the launch bonuses, and I want to address the thing that might actually be holding you back: time. As both a freelancer and a mom, I know how precious those hours are. My writing time happens when my toddler goes to sleep. And whenever I have something else going on in the evening (because I do like to socialize with friends at least once in a while, and I'm sure my husband would like it if I gave him at least a little bit of attention), that writing times gets cut...
3 months ago • 1 min read