Young Adult Indie Author
Being an indie author is an incredible journey filled with creativity, freedom, and the ability to bring your stories to life exactly as you envision them. But let’s be real—it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There are challenges, frustrations, and moments of doubt that many indie authors experience. As someone who has independently published three…
Last week, I shared everything I’ve learned as a self-published author. This week, I want to take it a step further and talk about the hardest parts of being an indie author—because let’s be real, this journey isn’t easy. But just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible. 1. Marketing Feels… Weird? For some…
When I sit down to write a new story, the first thing I think about is the characters. For me, they’re the heart of every story, and I like to build them up in layers, starting with a simple question and growing them into fully fleshed-out people. Starting with a Question Most of my stories…
Every book starts with a single spark of inspiration. For me, it began with a simple question: What would happen if a girl was born into a famous flying family, but she was scared of heights? That idea lingered in my mind, and soon enough, Roz was born—the protagonist who would lead me on a…
Has your NaNoWriMo novel lost its luster? Are you feeling a little frustrated by your word count or lack thereof? No you’re wondering if you should just quit? Please don’t!! Instead use these ten ways to encourage yourself, give yourself some much needed motivation, and incentive to keep going. The word bribery usually gets a…
Did you follow a plot bunny? And now you are completely off track? Plot bunnies can be fun, they can be exciting, they can lead us to amazing discoveries, but sometimes they can also leave us lost, confused, and frustrated. Let me share with you 6 Questions that you can ask yourself when this happens…
You have your cast of characters ready and you’re all excited about your story idea, right? But maybe you started doing research on Story Structure and now you’re super confused. Save the Cat, Hero’s Journey, Three Act vs Four Act?! It’s all so overwhelming and my not so popular opinion is I don’t think you…
Have you ever downloaded a character worksheet from Pinterest (or other online resource) and you were just overwhelmed with how many choices you had to make? From eye color to hair color to favorite food, there are so many decisions and, especially if you’re doing Preptober for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), you have to…
Do you think you can quiet your inner negative voice while you write? Because I think you can. I don’t think there’s a writer around that has not had the issue of sitting down at their keyboard or notebook and hearing their inner voice saying things like: “This sounds stupid!” “Nobody is going to want…
Yay! You’ve finished your first draft – congratulations! Now, are you ready for the editing process? Don’t be scared. Yes, editing is a totally different beast and it can get long and lonely, but following the advice below will help you keep your spirits high and motivation even higher. Make it FUN Editing can be…