Reflections, Research, and the Occasional Tangent
Writing a book is rarely a straight line. It's more like a spiral—circling back to ideas, revisiting characters, finding new layers in what seemed finished. These journal entries document the process as it unfolds: the breakthroughs, the obstacles, the research rabbit holes, and everything in between.
After twelve years of doubt, abandoned versions and repeatedly wondering whether I could actually write, one person read twenty-three chapters in four hours and told me they couldn't put it down. Five words, and suddenly everything changed.
Read MoreI had a completed rough draft, ten books worth of story, years of worldbuilding, enough notes to start my own small archive, and somehow I still felt like I wasn't getting anywhere.
Read MoreAt some point I realised there was an entire rough draft sitting in front of me. I had actually written a book, which should have felt bloody wonderful, except my first reaction was mostly to notice everything that was wrong with it.
Read MoreFor years I thought I kept failing and starting over. Looking at it now, I think all those different versions were me slowly digging through the crap until I found the story I'd actually been trying to tell.
Read MoreOne of the wonderful things about writing is discovering just how many perfectly legitimate, genuinely useful things you can do for a book while avoiding the terrifying business of actually writing the bloody thing.
Read MoreI moved to Australia in 2019 with this wonderful plan to semi-retire, work less, and finally have time to write. Then COVID happened and reality, as it so often does, looked at my carefully constructed plan and laughed.
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