Finding My Writing Groove Again
Sometimes You Just Need a Self-Care Date
So…I signed a traditional publishing deal
I’ve been so quiet about this for so long, I’m still wrapping my brain around what’s actually happened. I signed my first traditional publishing deal.
Behind the scenes of writing “Lady in My Life”
What was the very first image/scene/idea that sparked Lady In My Life?
When I first thought about Wesley and Lynn’s story, I knew I wanted to play around with the billionaire boyfriend trope. Lynn is confident in all aspects of her life and rightfully believes she deserves the world and more. Wesley is a man who can most certainly buy the world…it’s the and more part he needs to work on. If you remember him from Loved By You, you know what I’m talking about. There’s an arc in their story where he has to grapple with his beliefs after Lynn makes his chest hurt. From that moment came the rest of the story around it. While there are some technical terms I’m still learning–stuff like business mergers and power of attorney–I’m very excited for the drama their journey will bring.
Writing Romance Books while Rebuilding My Life
I’ve been asked a few times why I write romance. While of course I love love – there’s something magical about yearning and tension and two people choosing each other – the truth is that I’ve never just been writing about romance. Underneath the current of my main couple, I’ve been writing about healing. Romance is just the ship I use to guide them on this journey.
The First Day - Wesley
What Wellness Looks Like After survival Mode
Each time I scrolled through social media, I saw countless videos preaching this thing called "wellness”. Suffering from burnout? Wellness. Stressed to the max? Wellness. Heartbroken? Wellness. Gaining weight? Wellness.
Always a recovery plan, never the preventative care.
Dating Myself Again
I canceled on myself after planning my first solo date.
Saw the event marked on my calendar and added little doodle hearts to make it special. Then, as the day neared, panic trickled in. What if people looked at me funny? What if it felt awkward sitting at a table alone? Would people be able to tell I was nervous? The irony is that I never had those thoughts when someone else sat across the table from me. But now that the reservation was for one, I was shaking in my boots.
Why Productivity Can’t Save You
When I made the decision to move, I had five planners.
Five.
You’d think I was managing a Fortune 500 company – maybe one day in the future– the way each one served an absolutely necessary purpose for my new life. You’d think I’d discovered some revolutionary organization method that required multiple operating system in order for life to functional properly. Truthfully, the five planners made me feel like I was in control.
Learning to Be Alone Again
I’d been in survival mode so long that it took a while for all the real emotions of moving out to hit me. It wasn’t until one rainy night during winter break–the first time I didn’t have my son that the tears came. Truthfully, they’d been with me since the morning, but at this point in life, I’d become a pro at finding things to distract myself. But at 11:45 at night, there is no number of scrolls to avoid the inevitable. And so, while lying on my mattress still on the floor because I hadn’t found a bed frame that called to me, I cried. First, heated pricks near my tear ducts that turned to quick droplets across my cheeks, that turned to full, heaving sobs into my pillow.
A Return To Self
A few weeks ago, while setting up my table at Black Romance Book Festival, my friend, who just so happened to be assisting me, asked me a question you’ve probably heard times before.
“Do you even know you’re that girl?”