One of the pieces of advice that most writers hear at some point is to write what you know. A long time ago, I thought it wasn't very helpful. I mean, what, exactly, do I know? I used to think if I wrote only what I knew, I'd never come up with any interesting stories. It was years later when I realized I could inject my life experiences into the stories my imagination invented to create characters and situations that were interesting and meaningful.

Eltanin, book two of the Galactic Explorers series, is live now at all my usual retailers. I'm a little emotional about it, because I love this book. This one has more of me in it than anything else I've written to date. I used the military structure that I grew up in as a child of a US Air Force officer, my knowledge of Colorado as someone who lives here and loves this place, and even paid homage to my favorite band. I'll devote future posts to some of those details, but those are a few of the reasons why this book is deeply personal to me. I really do love all of my books, but this one occupies a special place in my heart. I hope others enjoy it too.

The paperback is in progress at the moment, currently under review, but should be up for sale in the next few days. 570 pages, people. It's a doorstop. But the cover is beautiful. I'll post up the vendor link once it's live.

This should give people something to chew on for a bit while I get going on book three. I'm also almost done writing a short, holiday-themed companion story which fits between Eltanin and book three. There are spoilers in it, so if you're interested, you'll want to read this one first. Look for that story to be released probably in November. Lots to come in between, though, so stay tuned!

As always, I appreciate every single person willing to join me on this crazy journey. Thank you so much for reading.

In redesigning my site, I remembered that I have several short stories that aren't quite suitable for the Free Reads page. So, I've decided to put them up on Wattpad for people to enjoy. I posted the first chapter of Forbidden today and will upload subsequent chapters weekly until it's complete.

These first few stories I have to share are older ones, so if they sound familiar to you, then you may have read them before. I am, however, editing each of them as they're posted, for clarity, voice, and simply because my style has evolved over the years I've been publishing and I'd like to give these a proper dust-off. They're all getting new artwork, though, so check that out at least.

Forbidden is a story from the world of Syndraya and my Legend of the Grimoire series. It's the bittersweet tale of a teenage William Hannigan's first love and his struggle to find his true self in a country where same-gender partnerships are illegal. It's quite literally a story of forbidden love, full of the emotion and drama that Mr. Hannigan embodies so well. William is one of my oldest characters (very literally), so it was interesting to explore the past of one of the voices who's been with me from the beginning. I hope everyone enjoys it.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

You've heard the phrase, 'not my circus, not my monkeys'? Well, this is definitely my circus and I wrangle all the monkeys here. In my ever-expanding universe of demanding performers, I may be the ringmaster, but it's the sarcastic simians who run the show. I don't even pretend to know what's going on.

And that's why I'm here with a shiny, redesigned website and yes, a new series on the horizon. Web design isn't particularly hard on its own, but coupled with my perfectionism and exacting creative aesthetic, this endeavor has me exhausted.

In case you weren't aware, this circus is a one-woman show. But it's a labor of love. Because I adore my characters and their stories and if I didn't give them an outlet, they'd drive me nuts. So I might as well share the chaos.

Asteria is the first book in my new Galactic Explorers series. I'm not entirely sure where this series came from beyond my desire to write something science-fiction-y. It's turned out surprisingly easy to write, with ideas flowing out of my head like they were meant to be written down. Honestly, this is the first series with which I've experienced that feeling. It's kinda weird.

And yes, this is definitely a series. Book two is already written. Book three has a cover and I'm getting ready to outline it. Book four has a premise. Beyond that, I'm not sure yet. But the ideas are there. 2023 will be an interesting year. Stay tuned.