Tag: writing
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How I Learned to Work Like Myself – Finally!
Maybe you’re not burned out. Maybe you’re simply working against yourself. For years, I’ve chased productivity systems that didn’t fit. Not that they didn’t work to some degree, but I was force-fitting my natural rhythms into a structure that wasn’t natural to my brain and body’s rhythms. That meant I was spending time, energy, and…
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Lost City Tropes and Ireland’s Cill Stuifin
Lost Cities, Lifelong I’ve loved “lost city” tropes for as long as I can remember, but it was probably movies like “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Tomb Raider,” “Congo,” and “Jewel of the Nile” (“Romancing the Stone” sequel) that cemented my love for lost city tropes in both fiction and non-fiction. But I think bigger,…
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What Happens When You Erase a Hero from History?
I never dreamed that Pete Hegseth would inspire me to write a novel. Right after he took over as Secretary of Defense, I began hearing from former Department of Defense colleagues. Within a few weeks, they told me that some of the more inspirational stories featured on DoD websites had disappeared overnight. The rationale? These…
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The Payback Archives: Where Revenge Meets Healing in Contemporary Fantasy
The Payback Archives is my world of quiet vendettas, emotional fallout, and hard-won redemption—with just enough magic to tip the scale. How It Started I grew up on weekly Star Trek episodes without a season arc, and by the time I was publishing with major traditional publishers, my TV appetite gobbled up Buffy the Vampire…
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When AI Gets It Wrong
You can’t make this up–but AI can! AI is everywhere now—from writing advice to government reports—and like most tools, it’s only as sharp (or as silly) as the person wielding it. I’ve had a few moments lately that made me laugh out loud, shake my head, or just marvel at how weird things can get.…
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25 in ’25: May Wins
In my plan to release 25 new Intellectual Property (IP) products in 2025, May was a big win, though keep in mind that I was continuing my business book serialization that’s already been accounted for. Plus, I spent a lot of the month working on editing and revising some manuscripts I wrote a few years…
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The Truer Self: The Closer I Am to Fine
Why I ditched “obligatory” marketing to follow my truer self—from federal-acquisition firefights to relaunching The Last Page Before Dawn Ever since I first belted out the Indigo Girls’ chorus in “Closer to Fine,” I’ve known the quest isn’t for a true self—it’s for a forever-evolving truer self. Every step I take, I’m trying to get…
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How a Green Cemetery Found Its Way into My Novel
In the third installment of my Rites of Passage trilogy, Rite of Reckoning, Lauren’s two close friends from childhood — and her mother’s neighbors — own a “green cemetery.” Virgil and Dixon have returned to their hometown after their mother’s death and have bought the homestead and land where their mother first fell in love.…
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25 in ’25: April Wins
In my plan to release 25 new Intellectual Property (IP) products in 2025, April was a win, though keep in mind that I was continuing my business book serialization that’s already been accounted for. I spent a lot of the month working on editing and revising some manuscripts I wrote a few years ago and…
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25 in ’25: March Wins
In my plan to release 25 new Intellectual Property (IP) products in 2025, February was NOT a win, and March was significantly less than desired, but for good reason. Near the end of January, the DOGE and a bunch of Executive Orders put my life’s work in Acquisition and Contracting on hiatus, maybe permanently. It…
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Helaena Targaryen: The Madness of Knowing the Future
One of my favorite characters in “House of the Dragon” is Helaena Targaryen, and I’m loving how the show presents her attempts to deal with her prophetic abilities. It’s one of the few shows, books, movies, etc., that I’ve seen really portray the madness of knowing the future in a way that I think is…
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25 in ’25: January Wins
In my plan to release 25 new Intellectual Property (IP) products in 2025, January was a win. Keep in mind that each book could become several different IP releases. In other words, one product might be in print, ebook, audiobook, full-cast audiobook, German translation. I get to set my own rules here, and part of…
