Where the Rising Action Leads

Conflict drives the plot. Without it, there is no story. I am learning that the real work doesn't happen at the climax — it happens in the rising action, the slow build before anything looks like dawn. A blog about the writers' group, the classroom, and trusting the Author who hasn't finished writing yet.

The Voice Restored

Twelve weeks since the worst day of my life, my voice came back. The night I sang again, the floodgates opened. The week my book hit #1. The truth about reclaiming a voice in three places at once — and the cost of refusing to stay silent.

The Week the Book Left My Hands

My book has been out for one week. In that week, I sent over two hundred personal messages and watched the responses break me open in a way the writing never did. The book is finding the people it was written for.

The Tree That Bends but Doesn’t Break in a Hurricane

I woke up this morning a Palma. On the fifty-fourth anniversary of my grandmother's death and the third of Joshua's, I walked to the water at sunrise carrying a name that is mine again. Here's what I know about palm trees: they're designed for hurricanes.