QUESTION: When you sit down to write, what makes it feel easier? ☕ A specific drink 🎧 A playlist 🕯️ A candle 📍 A certain spot 📝 A ritual Share yours — someone else might steal it! 😄

Only music around me, no interruptions of phones, texts, or questions from others living in the house with me, lets me dive into a project. On a normal day, this is easy, but when we are all inside because of snow and crazy low temperatures, it is more of a challenge.

Building an author career rarely looks the way we expect it to. Progress is often quiet, nonlinear, and easy to miss when you’re in the middle of it. Trusting the process doesn’t mean ignoring data, avoiding strategy, or pretending things aren’t hard. It means understanding that consistency, learning, and showing up over time compounds — even when you don’t see immediate results. Every book you write sharpens your craft. Every reader you connect with builds trust. Every small system you put in place makes the next step easier. You’re not behind if growth feels slow. You’re building something real — layer by layer. 👉 Where are you being asked to trust the process right now in your author journey? You don’t have to have it all figured out — just keep going.

This past weekend was heavy. Many of us woke up, went about our days, and just felt it: a tightness, a weariness, the way everyday moments feel harder to move through. (If you’re in the U.S., you’ve likely heard about the recent fatal shooting involving federal agents and the grief and tension it’s sparked across communities. That along with the worry of loved ones in the Eastern states battling an insane winter storm and cold!) On Sunday evening I found myself exhausted in a way that had nothing to do with productivity — but everything to do with feeling the weight of the world. All I kept thinking was: "I can’t wait to crawl into bed and disappear into my book for a while." I’ve heard authors ask, “What’s the point of writing when life feels so hard?” Writing is not an escape from reality. . . it’s a way of expressing it. Stories are how we make sense of the world around us. They help us grapple with pain, process emotions, and find connection when it feels like everything else is fragmented and crazy. That’s why, when a character feels real (not just a collection of traits), it matters! When you get inside their head, when you understand not just what they do, but why they feel the way they feel — that’s when your stories start to resonate with readers on a deeper level. That's when lives are changed. People are motivated. They find the spark to just. Keep. Going. For a character to feel real, they need: 1. Depth of backstory — not just facts, but emotional history 2. Clear motivations — what they want and what they fear 3. Consistency with complexity — real people have contradictions, and so should your characters If you’re finding yourself wrestling with emotion right now (let's be honest, who isn’t?), you might find it helpful to pour some of that into your writing — letting your characters live inside those questions and feelings. And of course if you write nonfiction, sharing what you know and how it can help people.

It sounds obvious, but it’s easy to forget! Especially when we’re thinking about trends, markets, or what we should be writing. . . I was just reading a military romance (a genre I didn’t expect to love!) and I’m completely hooked. The cover was what got me first along with seeing it all over BookTok. It reminded me how powerful it is when an author clearly enjoys the story they’re telling. That enthusiasm shows up on the page. When you write a book you’d personally want to curl up with and read, it tends to be more fun to write and more compelling for readers too. ✍️ I’m curious: Are you writing the kinds of books you love to read? And have you ever surprised yourself by falling in love with a genre you didn’t expect?