Writes
The Collective Salt Row had always been more ghost town than neighborhood. A stretch of old shrimping warehouses slouched along the bayou, rusting into the landscape, their broken windows staring blankly at the water. Most had been picked clean for copper and left to rot. Nicola and her wife Morgan had been the only ones foolish or hopeful enough to… Continue reading Chapter 2: Ghosts in the Floorboards
The Collective Detective Nicola Knight had come home the way ghosts do: quiet, uninvited, and carrying unfinished business. The plane touched down at Louis Armstrong International at 6:13 p.m. The wheels screeching, engines reversing hard enough to jolt her forward in her seat. Nicola didn’t flinch. She’d flown rougher rides into smaller towns, dropped into places where the only welcome… Continue reading Chapter 1: Salt in the Wound
Day 3 & 4 of #1000wordsofsummer **Content Warning: Injury & Medical Stuff in this Section** Please skip to the next section if this isn’t your vibe. Let’s get this part done early, so you can skip it if needed. I found out yesterday that I need a knee replacement. Yeah, at 41, and not because I’ve been skydiving or spelunking… Continue reading Fiction, Flesh, and Finding My Way Back
Day 2 of #1000wordsofsummer I woke up at 4:30 AM today, not because I’m disciplined or inspired, but because my body decided to betray me again. Hopefully you don’t understand the full-body aches and restlessness. That strange floaty feeling where your brain’s buzzing like a neon sign in a gas station bathroom. I tried to go back to sleep. My… Continue reading 4:30 AM, A Knee That Hates Me, and Chapter 2
Today = 1,760-ish Words I’m not sure this is sane, but here we are. Two cups of coffee deep and no editing in sight, I’m throwing my first paragraph to the wolves, or, you know, the Internet. If you’ve got one too, share it. We can discuss, commiserate, or just high-five across the void for getting words down. Sometimes that’s… Continue reading First Paragraphs, Coffee, and the Triumph of Word Count
Nervous Energy and Gotham Shadows I haven’t written a single word yet. The cursor blinks like it’s trying to start a staring contest, and I’m just… sitting. My mind nervously orbiting my workspace with a podcast in my ears. Free With Ads, today’s episode is on Batman Returns, which is streaming free on YouTube, I think, if you’re cool with… Continue reading Day 1 of #1000WordsofSummer
A progress report and #1000WordsofSummer Ever stare at an outline so long it starts to look like a crime scene? Yeah. That’s been me. For weeks. I’ve been elbow deep in the skeleton of The Collective, my Southern Gothic-murder-mystery-romance-thing, rearranging bones and whispering, “Does this femur go here?” I’ve plotted. Replotted. Lit it all on fire. Salvaged it. Then considered… Continue reading Messy Outline, But the Magic’s Coming
Progress, updates, and a little bit of magic in the margins. I’m still here, still writing. If you’ve been wondering what’s going on behind the curtain… I was seduced by a book I’ve playfully titled: The Collective I’ve been deep in the guts of what I hope will be the first in a series of novels. Think, if the Owens… Continue reading Words, Witchcraft, and a Hell of a Brainstorm
Gold Star Day I’ve been deep in the zone this week. The kind of hyper focus that shows up like a storm, sudden, consuming, and strangely beautiful. It’s one of the many gifts and curses of living on the spectrum of mental health issues, but that’s a conversation for another day. Today, I want to talk about PROGRESS. I’ve finished… Continue reading Three Chapters, One Star at a Time
