As I write this, I’m sitting in my home office. It is sun-drenched, messy, and smells of the cinnamon wax melt I have burning on the windowsill. As I write this, we are creeping closer to the relaunch of my first fantasy series, Woven. I’m writing the last book of the Station 86 series. I’m on a path to joining SFWA.
As I write this, I’m so much farther than I ever thought I would get. A professional author and critic. A blogger. A happy woman.
There are many dark and terrible things in this world, and indeed in my own life. It is never perfect and will likely never be. But what life ever is? It’s hard to think of these things when I feel so blessed today.
I have a beautiful, fulfilling, joyful writing career. I have people who show up to read what I write. I have put art out into the world and it has been well received.
I want to keep this short today because I feel like I’m repeating myself. But I do want to thank you all, again, for being here. I’ll keep showing up if you’ll keep reading. And yes, I have lots planned for the rest of the year.
And, God willing, many years to come.
See you soon.
Today is the last day of our Paper Beats World giveaway week. And today, I’m giving away a free copy of Broken Patterns before it’s even published! Just like this post and leave a comment to enter.
If you liked what you saw here today, please consider liking and sharing this post. Or you can support the site financially on Ko-fi.
There’s a person I follow on all social media. Her name is Molly, the art witch. I love her. I want her to be my auntie.
I’ve learned so many wonderful things from her about art, expression, finding joy in life, and witchcraft. One of the best things I’ve learned from Molly is this. Nothing is sacred until we say it is.
Now, she was talking about grimoires and other magical tools. And this was great news for me as a beginner witch who was being far to methodical about my grimoire. It was incredibly freeing, realizing I could have a grimoire that didn’t look anything like the books I grew up seeing on Charmed. I’ve since crafted three full grimoires, and have two active ones for my continued learning.
But I didn’t come here today to talk about grimoires. I can if you want me to. Let me know in the comments.
Today, though, I want to talk about something else. Tuesday was the ninth anniversary of Paper Beats World. It was a terribly important day for me, filled with big positive emotions. Do you know what I did?
I went to work, because I had to work that day.
I have launched ten books and three seasons of podcasts. I’ve had a handful of mini milestones in my writing career aside from those. And on most of those days, I have done just about the same thing.
I’ve taken some pictures, posted them on social media, and gone to work.
What in the hell am I doing?
I think for the longest time, I’ve been expecting other people to make a big deal out of these days, these milestones and achievements. But that’s a lot to put on anyone. My darling husband is as supportive as they come, and even he didn’t do much more than congratulate me. But really, what else was there for him to say?
Especially as indie writers, our successes seem lackuster. Our books come out to little fan-fair. Instagram didn’t turn pink when AA came out. No one was waiting outside a book store to snag a copy of Quiet Apocalypse before they went to work.
Please understand that this isn’t a pity party. Nor is it me talking down about myself or other indie authors. Most of the content I was most excited for this year didn’t have a massive party when it launched. Silver Nitrate came out, no one was dressing up as film monsters and waiting in line to get their copy. Old Gods Of Appalachia is about to start season four. We aren’t seeing a bunch of stoked fans dressed up as dead miners. Instead fans of these things, myself included, simply got the book. We listened to the podcast. We celebrate the stories that we love by consuming them, then posting pictures of the covers on social media and raving about how cool the story was. Quietly.
The point is that no one is going to celebrate your successes as much as you do. These days don’t have meaning, unless we make them have meaning. And yeah, it’s kind of hard to make them have meaning, even if it’s something you’ve waited years for.
I had to go to work on Tuesday. I actually got sick and had to leave work, spend the rest of the day on the couch on Tuesday. But most launch days, the world just has no intention of stopping. There’s still pets that need cared for. Laundry, dishes, day jobs. These things do not and will not go away.
But we are achieving things, damn it! We are launching books, we are signing contracts. We are getting our first good reviews and holding the copies of our books for the first time. We as indie writers are winning all the time. And damn it, I’m going to take more time to celebrate those wins.
So sometime soon I’m taking myself to my favorite coffee shop. I’m getting a Fall coffee, and sitting down with my laptop to look over my own site. To revisit the memories, advice, lamentations and everything else I’ve poured nine years of work into. After all, I start this blog while I was still working on Broken Patterns. It is a very real documentation of my entire writing career.
This is how I’m making this anniversary sacred, how I’m making it special. And I’m vowing now to never pass up another opportunity to celebrate a writing win again.
So how about you? What do you do to celebrate your writing milestones? Let us know in the comments. And I’ll see you again next week.
Don’t forget, Preptober is officially just a month away. I have a brand new updated for 2023 version of my Preptober Planner available now on my Ko-fi shop.
There are moments in our lives that we should pause for. Life is so incredibly fast, and it just feels like it’s getting faster every year. Holidays, anniversaries, birthdays. These are the times we want to slow down, and just see how far we’ve come.
Today is one of those days for me. Because, as of today, I’ve been writing Paper Beats World for nine years.
Yup, nine. I kind of can’t believe it either.
So much has changed since then. As this is technically a blog, I hope you’ll let me indulge in some self reflection. I’ve changed careers, changed faiths, changed my last name. We’ve moved three times.
The world has changed since I started PBW. A pandemic, a horrible president, a less horrible president, societal shifts for better and worse. And through all of this, I’ve been writing my little stories.
It’s the only way I know to keep myself sane, really. Creating my little worlds in which things work out well, people make sense, bad guys get what they deserve and good guys win.
Most of the time.
And through all of these changes, you’ve been here. More of you than I ever thought possible. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to get to talk to you every week. I hope that you find value in what I have to say. Or at least get a chuckle out of it.
Since I’m assuming most of you are here for the stories, I wanted to give you an idea of what you can expect in the next year. While life changes and these plans might go awry, this is at least what I have planned right now.
Woven, my first series about a boy who weaves visions and a girl who spins light, is out of print right now. I am planning a relaunch of the whole series in 2024, maybe starting in May. But I want to make sure I do it right this time. I’m blessed with a second change here, and I want to be sure to give the series the time and attention it deserves. And the covers it deserves.
Station 86 fans, I have better news. I know it’s been a while, and I really want to thank you all for your patience.
The next Station 86 story will begin in January. It’s significantly longer than any other Station 86 book has been so far. I sincerely hope that it’s worth your wait.
Finally, we’re in the middle of the second season of AA. It’s a quirky little horror scifi podcast about found families, aliens, and monsters that go bump in the basements of grocery stores. Just in case you haven’t heard it yet. We are blessed to have some terrific voice actors, and it’s a really good time.
Finally, what can you expect here on Paper Beats World? Well, in a word, you can expect more.
More book reviews, more writing advice, more prose poetry. I want to give you an opportunity to let me know in the comments what you’d like to see more of here. Do you want more poetry content, more political rants, more reviews? Do you have writing questions? Do you want to hear more about the business side, the creative side or the lifestyle side of writing? Let me know.
Finally, to thank you all for sticking with me for nine years, I’m doing something a little extra special today. Right now, today only, (Today being August 30, 20230) all of my books available on Smashwords are free.
If you’ve been around this site for any amount of time, then you know what today is. Today is what I consider to be my writing anniversary. It’s the anniversary of the day I came up with Devon, the boy who weaves visions, and Woven was born.
Woven was my first series, four books in all. The first one, Broken Patterns, was released in 2016. The final book, Falling from Grace, came out in 2020.
Normally, this would be where I’d post a link to the books. But as you might recall, earlier this year my publishing company dropped all of my books.
Part of me wanted to just not mark this day at all. It’s hard not to feel like shit about this. My series was published, and now it’s not. That’s six years of work, from the first character creation to the last book publication. And now it’s out of print.
For now. Check back with me next year.
But it also felt disingenuous to ignore this anniversary. It felt ungrateful, too. If you’ll recall, I prayed for this story. I prayed and cast an offering of bread to the birds in my little town square. I prayed that this story would work. And, it did.
Woven launched my writing career. If it hadn’t been published, I might never have written Station 86. I certainly never would have written AA. Having that first series published did more for my confidence as a writer than anything else.
A writing career is rarely going to be a straight line or an upward climb. There are going to be unexpected setbacks that have nothing to do with your talent or perseverance. If the last decade of my life has taught me anything, it’s that there’s no such thing as having something on lock. Take a look in the mirror. The person looking back at you is the one and only thing can you can control.
This is true in all walks of life. But even more so when your career is based on the tastes of other people.
I know that sounds bleak. And yeah, it kind of is. Being a creative is hard. You can work as hard as you can, pour yourself into your work and it still sometimes won’t be enough.
This is why it’s so important to remember why you’re writing.
Do you know why you’re writing? Take some time and think about it. You’ll probably come up with several answers. Here are mine.
I enjoy writing.
I want to share my writing with people.
I need to write to get my thoughts straight.
The world is on fire, and I’m not a fighter. I’m not a politician or a doctor or a teacher. If I’m going to make any difference in this world, it’s going to be by writing. If I can write I can maybe change people’s minds or inspire them to act. If I can’t do that, I can at least chronicle what I’m seeing. And if I can’t do that, I can at least write a story that might comfort someone during a dark time.
Does that mean I don’t want to build a writing career? Hell no. I want to write full-time. I want to hit the best sellers’ lists and win awards. I want to travel all around America in a van and sell my books at little indie bookstores. I want to do a travelogue on Instagram and post pictures of me and Oliver eating ice cream in every state except Florida. I want to be able to commit all of my time to writing stories and exploring this world.
But if I can’t do that, I’m at least going to write every day and share my little stories. Because in the end, that’s why I write. That’s why I’ll always write. No matter what
Hopefully by this time next year, Woven will be in publication again. But whether it is or not, I’ll be here. And I hope you’ll be here with me.
Long-time readers probably knew this was coming. Today is the eighth anniversary of my writing weekly posts for this little corner of the internet we call Paper Beats World.
I just read through the last six anniversary posts, and I don’t want this post to be just another thank you and I don’t know how the hell we got here post.
I mean, thank you for sure. While I would keep writing stories no matter the response, I for sure wouldn’t be posting here every week unless someone was out there consuming it. Every time you read my work and like it, it feels like a virtual hug.
At this point, it seems pretty clear that I’m going to keep showing up here. So let’s not waste any time today talking about how amazing it is that my Gemini brain didn’t get bored yet. I’m here to stay. So let’s talk about something worth our time.
How have you leveled up in the past year?
Remember last year, when I challenged all of us to level up together? Well, here’s how I did.
I went to Nebula Con, and have been participating in weekly writing dates with other con attendees.
I’ve tried my best to write posts that would help you level up your writing. I hope it’s helped.
And I’m not done leveling up. Over the next year, I’ve got big plans. I’m working to find an agent, of course. And I’m trying to join SFWA. While I’m doing that, I’m going to be bringing some self-published to you.
Here’s what you can expect from me between now and the next PBW anniversary.
1. Season two of AA is on its way. In case you haven’t heard season one yet, it’s available here.
2. The very last Station 86 book will be coming out within the next twelve months. Don’t know when yet, but it’s coming. (You can get the first book for free on Smashwords right now.)
3. The good news for Station 86 fans doesn’t stop there. I’m currently working to convert the books into audiobooks and relaunch the whole series.
There will be other goodies coming your way. Short stories exclusive to PBW. New content to make you a better writer or just live a better life. Reviews of speculative fiction content. Next month, of course, we’re going to be celebrating Banned Books Week.
Writing for this blog continues to be one of the most uplifting projects in my week. Thank you for being a friend, and showing up with me every week.
Some of you who’ve been around a long time know that July 20th is an important day for me. It’s the anniversary of the day I came up with the idea of Woven.
Nine years, ten books, and two podcasts later, I’m still here. Still going strong. And it’s honestly kind of baffling.
I’ve gone into detail before about how this book saved my life. How the universe came together to bring me to the place of being a writer. So I’m not going to get super mushy today. At least not on here. In real life, I’m sobbing. Because I can’t believe I’ve been a professional writer for nine whole years.
Honestly, I am not the same person I was nine years ago. I hope you’re not the same because that would be kind of sad.
I wanted to do a bonus post today, sharing nine things I’ve learned in the last nine years. Then, I realized that I wrote an advice post a few weeks ago when Quiet Apocalypse came out.
Then, I realized that all of the advice in that post was about being a writer. It’s not craft advice. And after all, it’s all about the craft. I didn’t offer bread to the birds in Diamond Park and pray to be good at marketing. I prayed to be a writer.
So today here are the nine most important pieces of writing advice I’ve learned in the last nine years.
Use cheap notebooks
Listen to me on this one. I love beautiful notebooks, expensive notebooks. I bought two Archer and Olive notebooks for my 2022 bullet journals, and those puppies ain’t cheap. I just bought a real leather-covered book for my Book of Shadows, and clearly, that was some money. But when I’m doing freewriting or rough drafts, I use cheap college-ruled notebooks as one would use in school.
The first reason is that I fill a freewriting notebook every two months and my rough drafts usually encompass up to five notebooks, and that would be money. But the more important reason for this is that it allows me to write shit.
And you’ve got to have the freedom to write shit. Especially when you’re working on your rough draft. You’ve got to sit down, look at the page, and say, “I’m going to fill you. And because my only goal today is to fill you, most of what I fill you with is going to be pure, unfiltered garbage.”
That is not happening in a twenty-dollar notebook. That book will stand up and walk off your desk.
If you’re worried you went too far, write it anyway
I have written some things that frankly, scared me. I’ve written about gruesome murders, rapes, and tortures. I’ve written about people doing things that horrify me. I’ve killed characters who didn’t deserve to die. I even wrote about a dog being ripped apart.
It was fucking hard to do that. But I didn’t do it for shock value. I did it because it fit in the story. Because while I was writing, I felt like this is what needed to happen. And those scenes, hard as they are to write or even really think about, make for a richer story. And yes, it might upset some people. But that’s the next thing we’re going to talk about.
Don’t worry that you’re going to piss people off
I’m in the process of writing a nonfiction book that’s going to piss people off. I talk about politics a lot on this website, and sometimes people don’t like that. Sometimes when things happen to me, I write about them in fictional settings. Some of those things are messed up, and I’m going to write about them anyway.
And I’ll never, ever apologize.
My stories are mine. Your stories are yours. If you want to write about your life, write about it. You don’t need permission to talk about anything that happens to you.
Writing exercises are crucial
I do writing exercises every day. Some days I’m bored by it. Some days I write some of the best shit I have ever written. Every day I come to the page. Because you can’t do something every day and not get good at it.
It also helps with writer’s block. If you’re just used to doing writing exercises every day, the blank page just doesn’t hold a lot of fear for you.
90 percent of writing books are bullshit
I love every single book Natalie Goldberg has ever written. I have worn out multiple copies of Stephen King’s On Writing. And I have a copy of Elements of Style that came to me in such a serendipitous way that God sent it to me.
I have never read any other writing book that was worth my time. If you have any book recommendations for me, leave them in the comments. But most of them are shit. Sorry.
This isn’t to say that a good writing book isn’t worth twice its weight in gold. Good writing books are worth wading through bad writing books to find them. Just don’t feel like you’ve got to take everything in one of those books as gospel.
Be honest while telling lies
I write about dragons, ghosts, and spaceships. That’s my catchphrase. I don’t write about things that happened.
But I also do.
I write about people dying at political rallies.
I write about postpartum depression.
I write about real things I’m really afraid of or things that have happened in the guise of fiction.
And it’s not always on purpose. My husband is an actor in AA, and he’s frequently found my work familiar in ways that I didn’t even realize. “Oh, this character is like our asshole landlady. Oh, I remember when this happened to you. I know the horrific political thing you’re referencing here.”
And half the time I hadn’t realized that’s what I was writing about until he pointed it out.
Do you have to make your fiction a political statement? No, of course not. But the truth will come out of your fiction if you care about anything at all.
Make friends with other writers
My writing life blossomed when I started making other writer friends. Yes, it’s great to have someone to network with. Yes, it’s great to have people to swap beta reads with. But the best thing about having writing friends is having someone who speaks your language. The best thing is finding your tribe.
Finding people who get the weird shit we do. Who understands why we can agonize over one word for days and then write 4,000 words in an hour. Who gets what it feels like to launch a book to lukewarm applause, and how awful/awesome that is. Because yes, no one seemed to care, but it’s also the best thing you’ve ever done.
It’s great to have people who can hold you accountable, with who you can pitch ideas, and who you can cry over rejection letters.
Find your writing tribe.
You can learn from literally everybody
I have become a better writer by listening to advice from other artists. Not just writers. Poets, visual artists, photographers, and stand-up comedians. Everyone who creates has something to teach us.
Actually, everyone has someone to teach us. I heard the best advice from the CEO of Hooters in a podcast once.
Read autobiographies from creative people. Watch interviews, and listen to podcasts. Learn from creative people, writers or not.
Write for you first
Finally, this is something I learned from Quiet Apocalypse. I’ve mentioned this before, but this book is the most selfish book I’ve ever written.
I love haunted house books, so I wanted to write one. I am a witch, so I wanted to write a main character who’s a witch. I love demonic stories, so I wrote about demons. I wrote the story that I wanted to read. And it is my favorite book I’ve ever written.
I think other people would agree. But even if no one else read it, I still had a blast writing it. Hell, I might sit down and read it myself someday.
I would love to know if you’re a long-time fan who read and loved Woven. I’d love to know which one of my books you’ve read or want to read. Let me know in the comments so I can cry out of gratitude.
Paper Beats World is a labor of love. If you found something of value in this post, please consider buying me a cup of coffee on Ko-fi.
It’s been seven long years since I started writing this little blog. And I started preparing to write this post by reading all of my other anniversary posts.
Every year in the past I’ve been surprised that I’ve kept writing. But after seven years, I think I’ll go ahead and keep writing. I’ve proven to myself that I can do hard things.
What continues to surprise me, and what I’m still deeply grateful for, is that you’re still reading. That there are still people who want to follow along this journey with me. Who want to learn, or at least be entertained by me.
I am humbled by this every single day.
Seven years ago, the realization that people were reading things I wrote inspired me to keep writing. Now, you’ve inspired me to level up.
I want to be a better writer. I want to write better. Those might sound like the same thing, but they’re not. Let me break it down a little.
To be a better writer means to be more disciplined. To practice more. To treat my art like art and my business like business. To spend less time on Instagram and more on writing practices.
To write better is to produce better stories. To learn my craft inside and out. To understand language, word choice, grammar, and world-building in ways that I don’t now.
How exactly I’m going to do this is still in the planning stage. But I’m doing what anyone does to get better at anything. Learning and practicing.
I’m taking all of the writing classes on Masterclass. I’m re-reading books about writing that inspire me, like Wild Mind and On Writing. I’m reading Writer’s Digest from cover to cover. I’m listening to writing podcasts like Writing Excuses and Ditch Diggers. That’s the learning part.
I’m freewriting and doing daily exercises. I’m creating a dedicated Writer’s Notebook. I’m thinking more about word choice. I’m thinking about why stories work and why they don’t. I’m making lists. That’s the practice part.
This is the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I love focusing on the words. It’s the hardest goal I’ve ever made. There’s no damned ruler to measure my progress.
I can enter contests, and I do. I can track how many people follow me here. I can track how much of my content sells. But those are all measurements that are dependent on the opinions of others. And that’s arbitrary. I can never control other people’s opinions. I can only write good stories. Which is, again, arbitrary.
What constitutes a good story? I don’t know, but I know when I read one. So I’m on a mission to know. To understand.
I don’t think I’ll have a set of rules that will tell me if my stories are getting better. But I do think that if I keep at it, I’ll have a better understanding. And I think I’ll enjoy my work more.
So let’s make a deal. Let’s, each of us, commit to leveling up our art over the next 365 days. It doesn’t have to be writing.
I’ll post blog posts that will hopefully teach you something. I’ll also post more short stories, so you can decide for yourself how I’m doing. And you commit to doing one thing every week to improve your art, whatever that means to you.
Let’s meet back here in a year and see how we’re doing.
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