10th Anniversary as a Published Fiction Author

10th Anniversary as a Published Fiction Author

This month marks my tenth anniversary as a published fiction author. My first novel, The Prophecy (Lucy Varna), was released on 10 February 2014. The publishing landscape was very different then. Self-publishing was still denigrated as inferior to traditional (corporate) publishing, and the Gold Rush days of indie publishing were just a couple of years away from becoming a highly competitive red market industry. Now, self-publishers navigate a constantly changing landscape, though some things have not changed at all. The…

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Where is the honor?

Where is the honor?

The Alabama Supreme Court ruling on frozen embryos is exactly why we have, in this country, a separation of church and state. Mind you, this is the same state that has laws in effect declaring that a pregnant woman can be charged with murder should she miscarry. (Those laws have been used for just that purpose. They originated in precisely the same ignorance as the Supreme Court ruling and produce an unjustness that should infuriate any compassionate individual.) And now,…

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Writing Sequentially

Writing Sequentially

With the release of my next Celia Roman novel A Witch and Her Familiar (Vanessa Kinley, Witch PI, Book 2) a few days past, I’m already anticipating the release of the next book in the series. Mostly, that means the writing end of things. When the manuscript for A Witch and Her Familiar was finalized, I took a couple of weeks off from writing to brainstorm the next book, Black Witch Rising. This is the first novel I’ve brainstormed since…

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If I Could Have a Do-Over

If I Could Have a Do-Over

Back when Sunshine Walkingstick popped into my head in September 2014, I seriously considered publishing her stories under my first pen name, Lucy Varna. Two years later, when the first Sunny novel was published, I decided that her stories were dissimilar enough from the Lucy Varna stories that I should publish them separately. Thus was the Celia Roman pen name born. Over the past few years, I’ve rethought that decision, often with a twinge of regret. How much farther along…

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Writing Don’ts

Writing Don’ts

The awkwardness is obvious if you imagine hearing one in conversation. No one has ever said to you, “A sophomore at Cornell, my niece is coming home for Christmas,” or “Sixty-six years old, my wife is an incredible cook.” Either sentence, if spoken, would sound almost comical, as though the speaker were struggling to learn English. (You wouldn’t use one in an e-mail or a text to a friend, either.) Yet, if you were writing an obituary for your college’s…

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Public Liberty and the Freedom of Thought

Public Liberty and the Freedom of Thought

Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of every Man, as far as by it he does not hurt or countroul the Right of another: And this is the only Check it ought to suffer, and the only Bounds it ought to know. This sacred Privilege is so essential to free Governments, that the Security of Property, and the Freedom…

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Getting Unstuck

Getting Unstuck

As I mentioned in my end of 2022 wrap up, I’m currently working on A Witch and Her Familiar, the second novel in the Vanessa Kinley, Witch PI Series (Celia Roman). This novel is the one I was writing when burnout sent my entire life skidding to an abrupt halt in late 2021. While recovering during the first six months of 2022, I picked Witch/Familiar up several times, trying to finish it. Each time, the story remained stubbornly blank in…

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What People Mean When They Say Capitalism Is Bad

What People Mean When They Say Capitalism Is Bad

When people say that capitalism is “the problem,” what they really mean is that they’re opposed to the naturally unequal forces of a free-market (i.e. voluntary participation and product/service selection) based economy. Capitalism is merely the scapegoat. People blame it for all sorts of evils having nothing to do with the way businesses are financed: poverty, inequality, racism, and a host of other societal ills that have more to do with government intrusion in the market, collusion between business and…

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Money Isn’t Everything

Money Isn’t Everything

Lately, I’ve heard author after author say something like this: “Do newsletters have a positive ROI?” “I don’t do book signings because I don’t sell anything, so they’re not worth my time.” “How many books do you sell in your Facebook group?” People, let me tell you something: not everything is about money. And look, I’m a capitalist at heart and very much in favor of people making a living with their art. 100% for that. But there are things…

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2023 Keyword: Finish

2023 Keyword: Finish

It’s time again to review the previous year’s progress, personal and professional, and write goals for the coming year. 2022’s focus was on rebuilding my creativity and pulling myself out of burnout. I did this in several ways. The first was by exploring my innate strengths, beginning with the CliftonStrengths test and continuing from there to the Better Faster Academy, a Strengths-focused resource created by Becca Syme, a success coach for writers. I’m not going to bore you with my…

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