Month: January 2025

Why I wrote a prequel

When I wrote Woven, I thought it would be a simple fantasy trilogy.

Well, that’s not entirely true. I at first thought it was going to be one epic novel that only encompassed the first two books. But as I wrote, I discovered more about the world and its people. This is one reason why it’s so important to finish a rough draft. The story tells itself to you, sometimes.

And the story started to breathe on its own, taking on a life I never imagined when I first started scribbling ideas out on index cards.

Despite this, I was as surprised as anyone to realize that the story needed another book.

Falling From Grace is, of course, that book.

Authors have all sorts of reasons for writing a prequel or additional content for an existing series. And it’s something that most of my favorite authors do. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, for instance. You might have any number of reasons for wanting to write more in a world that you’ve created after your original tale is done. But I’m willing to bet the number one reason is that you felt there was more to the story. More to a side character, or a region, or even a legend told in your tale that deserved more space.

Today, I’d like to share the reasons why I wrote Falling From Grace. Maybe some of these reasons will make sense to you, and inspire you to write your prequel or additional novel.

I wrote Grace by accident

Grace came to me while I was writing a prolog for Starting Chains that I never ended up using. This just goes to show that you should never, ever throw away any of your writing. I wrote a story about a young woman tasked with brushing down and caring for a horse before a long ride. This young woman overhears Calvin’s plans to invade Septa.

But this seemed like such a small peak into her world. Who was she? What was it like living in this village with our main antagonist? What would she have to say, if I gave her space and time to say it?

I wanted to see more of the world than the nobility saw

I loved writing about Devon, Sultiana and Lenore. But, they all had one thing in common. They were nobility. Even Victor, by the time he’s a main character, is a prince.

Grace is not a queen. At least, she is only a queen for a short amount of time. She is a simple woman who stepped up and led a rebellion.

I wanted to write about witchcraft and magic and rebellion

Speaking of which, Falling From Grace deals with a lot of things I wanted to write about. And that, of course, was the real gift it gave me. I loved writing about a rebellion. I loved writing about women and men discovering witchcraft.

Falling From Grace was an indulgence of a writing experience. So, as much as I had all of these other reasons to write it, this was the most important reason. I wrote it because I wanted to write it. Because it was such a joy to write it.

I realized that I hinted at a massive story that I never told.

Finally, though, I did have a concern when I was writing the Woven series. I hinted at a war in Montelair, Victor and Grace’s home. I mentioned, however briefly, that Calvin took over the country and killed their king. Later, I talked about a little girl whose story deserved to be told.

There was a story there. There was a whole story in Montelair that I wanted to tell. Because, and I think this is the most important to take from this. If nothing else stays with you, let it be this.

Don’t write a prequel unless you feel like there’s a story that’s waiting to be told. Don’t write more because you think you’re supposed to, or because the original series sold well and you want to capitalize off of that. Write the story that is there. Write the story that is calling to be told. You, and your readers, deserve nothing less.

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My thoughts on the TikTok ban

Bonus post because I’m sad.

I didn’t talk about this for a while because, if we’re being honest, I didn’t think it would happen. And, if I’m being honest, it wasn’t hugely on my radar until this past week. The darling husband is still in rehab from his stroke. LA is on fire and that has me scared in a deep extensential way that makes me fear for the future of our planet. The worst president in the history of America is seating his fat ass behind the honored Resolute Desk on the same day we honor one of the best men America has ever known.

Then, there’s the fact that I don’t use the TikTok. I’m 38, I use Instagram like an adult. I don’t post there or consume the content. I’ve never once installed or looked at the app. The only time I see any content from TikTok is if the iconic Loey Lane is doing a video about it.

So, why do I care? Because, despite everything I just said, I care deeply. And I wish to God that it wasn’t happening.

To start, so many amazing creators I love got started on TikTok. And I will be honest, I didn’t realize how many until they all started posting about how this app gave them their start. Jordan and McKay started on TikTok. A lot of progressive pastors I admire started there. B Mo The Prince, Professor Neil and Pastor Sarah, just to name a very few. While they eventually transitioned onto other platforms, they got started on TikTok. And I wouldn’t get to enjoy their content if they hadn’t started there.

I’m glad that these amazing creators are not going away. I hope that if you have content creators you love on TikTok you follow them onto other platforms. But the truth is that not everyone who follows someone on one platform is going to follow them on other platforms. So yes, every creator involved in TikTok is going to have to rebuild. They’re going to lose money in an economy that is already struggling. And while I don’t create that sort of content, I am still a content creator. I don’t want any content creator to suffer.

I have two pieces of advice for content creators of any sort. Writers, comedians, activists, video essayists. Do not put your hopes in one app. Don’t wait until your app of choice is going away before you encourage your followers to follow you on other platforms. Do it now.

Create for multiple platforms if you can at all. I write blog posts here. I review horror content on Haunted MTL. I post silly pictures of the pets and my life and microfiction on Instagram and Threads. I also get mouthy and political on Threads. I post and repost writing and reading content on Pinterest. And, of course, my books are available on multiple platforms. (Woven is going wide soon. Stay tuned.) If one of these platforms goes down, I can rely on others until I find an alternative. Remember, I used to post a lot on Twitter and Facebook. When those turned to Hell, I left. I didn’t lose that many followers.

Platforms come and go. Do not wait to diversify where your people can find you.

Speaking of apps coming and going, do not think that your favorite platform is safe. Because it’s not. That’s the scariest thing about this incident. The reasons why TikTok was banned were nebulous at best. And if they took it down, they can take any app down.

Any site down, if I’m being honest. I worry that this has opened the floodgates. I mean, I don’t know if anyone would want to ban Pinterest, as it’s about as dangerous as your sweet auntie who collects ceramic birds. But I didn’t think the silly dancing app was all that dangerous either.

That isn’t the only way an app can die. They can get taken over by terrible and dangerous people. They can become so full of toxicity that anything beautiful or worthy gets choked out. I’m concerned about some things I’m hearing about Meta, so Threads and Instagram might be next to go.

Everything we lose gives space for something new to grow. New apps will come to take the place of TikTok and hopefully give new creatives a place to find their tribe. I want that for them. I want creatives who just lost their platforms to find their people all over again. And I don’t want anyone to take this lightly. Losing the TikTok platform is a blow to creatives, some of which will not recover. It’s a blow to freedom of speech and freedom of creativity. And I dearly hope that I’m wrong when I see this as just the first of many platform losses.

Protect your art, my friends. Vote every election. Diversify your platform. And above all, do not stop creating. Do not stop posting comedy skits, creepy horror content, microfiction, progressive Bible knowledge, new music, book reviews, pictures of your pets, cleaning tips, and witchy aesthetic content. Don’t stop putting your good stuff out there.

We need it.

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I didn’t raise my 2025 Goodreads Goal

I think I mentioned this in my first post of the year. And when I did, I promised more information to come. Well, here it is.

After surpassing my Goodreads goal for the last four years in a row, I’ve decided that for 2025, I’m not going to increase it. My goal last year was to read 50 books, and my goal this year is to read 50 books. Every year I’ve read more books than the year before, and now I’m done increasing this goal. Let’s talk about why, and why you might consider doing the same thing.

I reached a number I like

50 is a good number of books. It’s almost a book a week. It’s also kind of a hard number to reach, while also being reachable. Like, I’ll have to put some effort into it, but not so much that it stresses me out and feels unattainable. At least at this point in my life, I can read 50 books and it feels like a challenge, but not an unachievable one.

I will eventually hit a number I can’t reach and that’s upsetting

There is a limit to how many books anyone can read in a year. Especially someone like me, who frankly has too much going on to read a lot of days. Reading takes time. Time I don’t always have between hospital visits, working and writing. And I swear, the older I get the less time I have to read.

Even if that weren’t the case, no one is adding more time to my day. I will continue to have the same number of working hours, the same number of writing goals, the same house to clean and a husband to care for. There isn’t anything that should make me think I’ll have more reading time.

But if I keep increasing that goal every year, reading will become more and more stressful. I’ll struggle more and more with the goal, intentionally taking shortcuts or just getting overwhelmed by the whole thing and tossing it away altogether. And no matter how many times in a row I reach my yearly goal, you can sure as shit believe that what will stick with me is the year I don’t make it. Let’s not forget the time I failed to reach my Nanowrimo goal and bitched about it for a year.

I want to be able to read longer books without fear

Books I like vary in size. Horror tends to be short, but then I also read Stephen King who writes super long. I also just got the new Grady Hendrix book, and she’s a big girl. Not the biggest I’ve read by far, but at 476 pages it’s no novella. It’s certainly longer than any novel I’ve written.

I like a long book. I need the space and ability to luxuriate in a good long book. I want to read things that take me some time to get through because they’re good stories that are full of detail and depth.

That isn’t to say that short books can’t be deep. Brevity has its perks. But I don’t want to be scared of getting into a long book for fear that it will endanger my Goodreads goal for the year.

All that being said, why am I still doing a Goodreads goal at all? It would seem much easier to just not do one, right? Then I wouldn’t have to worry about stressing myself out, taking the fun out of my reading or fearing to get involved with a long novel.

Well, aside from the fact that I like a challenge, I need a reading goal. At least, if I’m going to read a book for pleasure.

I read a lot of books for very adult reasons. I read books to review here and on Haunted MTL. I read books to learn things. Sometimes I read books because I’m an asshole who can’t keep my eyes on my own work. (I’ll be reviewing The House of My Mother on Haunted MTL soon.)

But I also read for pleasure. For something fun that I enjoy that isn’t productive or efficient. I read to relax. Except, well, in the society we live in relaxing is hard. While hustle culture is becoming less and less acceptable, the effects linger. And reading when there are a thousand other things I could be doing is often hard. What am I wasting time on this book for? The dishes need washing, I’ve got to scrub the salt marks from my boots off the floor, Oliver would like to go outside, and I could always be working on marketing.

I could spend all day working on marketing and still not feel done with that particular project.

So giving myself a reading goal helps to shut up the part of me that needs to be productive all the time. It gives me a pass to read not for any productive reason but a joyful one. Someday, I hope to heal that part of myself and just be able to rest and savor the joys of life. Until I get there, I’ll make reading goals.

So what about you? Are you making a Goodreads goal for 2025? And what books are you most looking forward to reading this year? Let us know in the comments.

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Self Care is survival

I know that I’ve talked about self-care before. But it’s 2025 and it feels like we might all need a little refresher. And for those who feel like they’re too busy, or depressed, or the world is too on fire (literally) for them to practice self-care, I hope this will serve as the inspiration you need.

I also hope we’re going to talk about something we haven’t really before. Because, maybe this is just me, but it seems like a lot of people don’t really understand what self-care is.

For example, I watch Fundie Fridays a lot. While watching the episode about Ally Beth Stuckey, I was blown away by what her interpretation of self-care was.

And by blown away, I mean pissed off.

Stuckey tells a story about being dumped by her boyfriend and deciding to give into a worldly self-care/self-love lifestyle. She talks about exercising two or three times a day, drinking too much, and eventually developing an eating disorder.

In what world is any of this self-care or self-love?

But she’s not the only one. Abby Roth (maiden name Shapiro) talks down to women who need ‘self-care nights’ where they have a bubble bath, a glass or two of wine and binge some mindless TV show.

Yeah, that’s what self-care looks like sometimes. My darling husband had a stroke in early December and is still in rehab. Some nights, self-care for me does look like a few glasses of wine and binge-watching Great North. My house is too quiet, damn it.

The thing that really got to me, though, was of course an ad for some productivity app or another. I don’t recall which one it was, which is probably good because I’m about to roast them. Based on this ad alone, I will never use this product.

This company put out an ad complaining about people taking ‘Self Care Weeks’, where they rot in bed and scroll through social media. The ad suggests that people would be a lot better off taking a week to do all the things they’ve been putting off. Like making doctor’s appointments, doing the little home repairs and odd chores they’ve been avoiding, and taking the time to make good meals.

First, who’s got a week just to take off? But also, my guy, that is self-care! That second dream week of simple adulting is actual self-care. Self-care is, by definition, taking Care of your Self.

In most cases, I believe that we should never assume malice when ignorance and laziness are much more likely. But in this case, I believe at least some people are doing this on purpose. Demonizing self-care and self-love because it’s so much easier to manipulate people who are exhausted, sick, and don’t really think much of themselves. No one who wants something from us benefits from us being cared for. Not politicians who want us to produce without taking up space. Not religious zealots who want us to listen to them, not our own still small voices. And certainly, not corporations who benefit from us being tired, emotionally drained and desperate for the slightest amount of serotonin we can get.

So let’s get real about this. Let’s get real about self-care so that we can show up as the best versions of ourselves. And let’s do that by first pointing out that self-care is never going to be self-destructive. As with everything else, the dose makes the poison.

A night binge-watching TV, ordering in and drinking some wine is self-care. Doing it every night for a month is a huge red flag.

Exercise is great self-care. Going to the gym twice a day is concerning.

A little retail therapy if you’ve got some expendable cash is self-care. Overconsuming is a really bad idea.

And in the end, real self-care is usually not going to be about these fun things. They’re fun, and they’re fine. But real self-care looks a little less exciting.

Real self-care is

– Making doctor appointments and therapist appointments.

– Taking your medication.

– Keeping your home the level of cleanliness you want it to be. Dishes done. Clothes are cleaned even if they’re not put away. Trash taken out.

– Drinking water.

– Finding a way to move your body that doesn’t feel like a punishment. If it’s the last thing you want to do, it’s not the right exercise for you.

– Doing what you need to do to like how you look. Wearing clothes that fit you and you enjoy. Fixing your hair, doing your nails, putting on some makeup if these things bring you joy. I feel put together when I have on mascara and perfume.

– Making the things you like in life a priority. I like reading, writing, doing silly little art projects and crocheting. These are vital things that make my days better.

– Taking time for your spiritual journey, whatever that looks like to you.

– Saying no to things you don’t want to do and don’t have to do. No is a complete sentence.

– Taking the time and space you need to heal from the heavy blows in life.

This is all-important for everyone, but I specifically want to talk to creatives today. Especially if you, like me, are just reeling from the world.

We want to create things. Some of us want to transmute the pain and fear we’re feeling into art. Some of us want to escape the darkness and create light. Both are fantastic goals, neither one is better or worse than the other. Both are needed in these troubling times. But we’re not going to be able to do either if we’re too busy just trying to limp from one day to the next. If we barely have the energy to microwave dinner, we aren’t writing our novel. If we’re too sick to get out of bed, we are submitting our work. And if we aren’t creating good art, then good art is drying up. And soon the only art out there will be created by rich assholes with no inspiration, corporations pushing writers to create marketable stories instead of honest ones, and of course whatever stolen puddles of words and gross weird-fingered images AI can crank out.

We need to create things. And if we don’t, then the world is going to be a lot darker than it is right now. And we can’t do that if we aren’t cared for. So we have to, have to, care for ourselves. Love ourselves enough to do what is needed to see us through another day.

And I know what I’m talking about. As I mentioned in the beginning, my husband had a stroke. I mean, a bad stroke. Right now he’s not in a good place. He’ll probably live, but we’re not sure what condition he’s going to be in.

And I am not handling that well. My best friend, my partner, isn’t here right now. I know he’ll come back. I have faith he’ll come back. But it’s going to be a long, hard road full of setbacks, tears and sleepless nights. And through all that, I still have to go to work. Life doesn’t grind to a halt so I can just focus on this one big scary, shitty thing. I have to keep the lights on, and food in the bowls of the pets. I have to take care of myself.

So when I say that I’m practicing self-care, I’m not talking about anything light or cute or self-indulgent. I’m talking about base survival. I’m talking about finding ways to make sure I get out of bed every day. And it’s the most basic stuff that makes it easier. It’s the daily maintenance of me that makes me capable of handling everything else. It’s putting my own oxygen mask on first.

Look, I’m totally aware that some of the things on my list are not feasible for some of you reading this. I’m so sorry for that. In an even slightly better world health care would be free and we’d all have some time in our days that didn’t have to be productive. But if you can’t do all of the things on the list, do one thing. If you can’t do any of the things on the list, make a list of things you can do to take care of yourself today. If you can’t make a list, do one thing. One thing today is taking care of yourself. Maybe you make a cup of tea. Maybe you get an everything shower. Maybe you just put on a song that makes you happy while you get some dishes done. Just a couple. Just the amount you can clean during that one song.

It’ll make you feel better, I promise. You deserve to be cared for.

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New Year, pretty much same me

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. I think they set up an unrealistic expectation that we’re going to become completly different people and somehow be able to make different health and productivity decisions just because we’ve just cracked open a new planner.

This isn’t to say that I don’t believe we can make changes in our lives. I think we’re all imperfect works in progress and we can choose something different for ourselves every day. I’m just saying we try to do too much too fast and at an arbitrary time. You can start something new any day. For instance, I’m already 25 days into a Dulingo streak.

What I do believe in is setting SMART goals at the start of the year. Just in case you don’t remember what that acronym stands for, it’s a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevent, and Time Bound.

I do have some slightly ambitious writing goals this year. But I should let you know off the bat that there will be no major launches. At some point Woven will be going wide, so you don’t have to rely on Amazon to get it. But other than that, you will see no novel launches from me in 2025.

I did launch four books in 2024, after all.

My writing goals for 2025 are pretty simple.

– I want to officially join SFWA.

– I want to join another local writing guild.

– I want to write the rough draft and second draft of Aurora, the final Station 86 book.

– I want to write the third and fourth drafts of a secret novel that I’m hoping to tell you more about later.

– Finally, I do want to launch Woven on all platforms.

That sounds like a lot, and maybe it is. But I think I can reasonably do all of those things. And being reasonable with my goals this year was very important.

Many of you, like me, have a word of the year. My word for 2025 is Heal. I decided on this word in early November. I realized that I’ve been putting off dealing with some heavy emotional stuff. I’m also suffering from burnout, and not taking care of my health. I needed to dedicate some time, yes a whole year, to healing myself first.

Then, on December 8th, my husband had a stroke. I don’t just mean a little stroke. I mean a brain bleed stroke. And he’s still in the hospital.

I’m sharing this for two reasons. One, if you see less of me around you know why. I’m not planning on taking any time off, but you never know. And two, to remind you of what I said in the beginning.

January first is a nice day to make changes. But so are the other 364 days of the year. Just because everyone else is making these grand plans right now doesn’t mean you have to if now isn’t the time for that shit.

You can decide next week that you want to start working out and just do it. You can decide in April that you want to start drawing and just do it. You can decide today, right now, that you want to start writing a novel, and just do it.

Or you can decide that what you’re going to do is just your best. And you know what? That’s valid too. Just do that.

However, if you’re stuck on this and you want to make some sort of positive change, may I suggest drinking more water? You’re probably dehydrated.

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