Why I Wrote There I am in Pieces Again

There’s a decade of my life I would love to forget. It broke me. When I moved away from the situation, I didn’t know if I would ever be the same again. But after a short time away, emotions, in the shape of words, came pouring out of me—words of waking up about what happened, trying to figure out why it knocked me to my knees, finding my footing again, and to finally, but cautiously, letting go of the past.

Although I’ve been writing something that resembles poetry since I was a teen, this is a very short collection specific to what I had gone through. It’s not the most cheerful collection of poetry. But is poetry ever really? This collection is very personal, and very raw, and felt very vulnerable to put out there into the world, but I don’t know, something told me that I needed to put it out there.

It’s a hard thing to go through life feeling like you’re dealing with something by yourself, which is how I felt for ten years, and by releasing this, I had hoped it would someone help feel a little less alone.

Eat It…a writing exercise

I was looking for something in my filing cabinet and came across a folder full of my old writing from when I first started writing with an eye toward publication. Like any or most new writers, you’ll do anything to free that writing genius inside, so naturally I had a book full of writing exercises. I want to say it was a small version of Writing Down the Bones, but I might be misremembering. I know I had a copy of that book and carried it around like a missionary carried the Bible. Anyway, I came across a writing exercise called Eat It (from 2004, I believe) and giggled as I read it over, so I thought I’d share it. We need to lighten the mood all up in here. (more…)

5 Reasons I Chose to Self-publish

Why I Chose to Self-publish:

This post is many years after the fact, but I had always wanted to blog about why I chose to go the self-publishing route. But after many years into this journey, I understand more of why I chose to do it. My perspective has changed immensely. I used to hesitate to admit I self-published my books but not so much anymore.
When I first started, the stigma against self-publishing was greater than it is now. Some believe it has disappeared almost entirely, but it hasn’t, not really. (more…)

Blogging

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this writing venture and where it’s going because of how everything is going, especially on publishing platforms and even social media platforms. Things are weird right now with the pandemic and no one really knows how long this weirdness is going to last. On certain publishing platforms it’s become a pay-to-play situation where if you want your books to be seen you have to buy ads. That’s all well and good if you have the budget or not if you feel certain companies are already too big to begin with (why give them even more money?). And then there’s social media, where…well, if you can understand how to stand out on social media, let me know.

But there’s always blogging. (more…)

THE VOICES UPSTAIRS…coming Dec 1st

This post is an all-in-one because it’s a weird year and I’m doing things all backwards and releasing things at strange times. So, anyway, this is The Voices Upstairs cover reveal and release date announcement all rolled into one. This is an upper-middle-grade supernatural mystery (the target audience is more suited for 11-13 year olds to be exact) and will be released on December 1st on all platforms in e-book and paperback. (more…)

DOLL PARTS…coming November 5th

DOLL PARTS :
a slightly demented and
somewhat humorous short story

Lonely Thomas Wharton is searching for the perfect girl. Except she doesn’t exist. Yet. But with a collection of dolls and a satanic ritual, he’s about to change all that. What could possibly go wrong? Well, it turns out, everything.

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I love this story. If there’s any one book of mine that truly captures my sense of humor, it is this one. This is a re-release but the story has been revised and expanded and has a proper ending this time. When I wrote it years ago, I have every intention of releasing it as a five part serial, but I learned quickly that short serials make a lot of people angry, especially ending books on a cliffhanger. By then, I was so burnt out on writing and publishing that I scrapped it altogether. But because I loved this book so much, I brushed it off and fixed it.