2026 Reading Bingo
Here it is! Your 2026 Reading Bingo card! And yes, I did complete this year’s bingo! Reading Stats Video will be up on YouTube soon… ish. Also best and worst reads of the year!
1112, 2025
1911, 2025
Now On Substack!
After a fun, if exhausting, weekend at the Kauai Writers Conference, I’ve started a Substack that will discuss writing and publishing on a more regular basis than this blog. I hope you’ll consider subscribing! It’s free! And if there is any particular issue you’d like to hear about, any questions you’d like answered, please do let me know.
1610, 2025
Don’t Tell Your Mother
I’m drawn to my dad’s bookshelves like moths are to our porchlight, and I’m probably just as stupid. He’s an avid reader of fantasy and horror, and the worn spines sport intriguing titles like The Silmarillion, IT, and Lightning, and a lot more of them say GOR. He has an art book by someone named Frank Frazetta, and I’ve flipped
2509, 2025
Tarot, Lenormand, and Oracle Decks
If you’ve seen my YouTube office tour video, you know I have a lot of tarot and oracle decks. In fact, I keep a personal catalogue of them. You can view it here. And if you have questions about any of these, feel free to ask. I’m happy to review them on my YouTube so you can get pictures and
1809, 2025
Request Your ARC!
ARCs for Manifesting Destiny are now available, but in limited quantity. You can request one here. Keep in mind, these are eARCs (epub file). And here is some art of Cee and Livian by @ka-leo-scope.bsky.social
1509, 2025
Questions (and Answers)
The magazine for Dramatists Guild members—which is called The Dramatist Quarterly—asks questions of a member in each issue. Since it’s unlikely I’ll ever be asked for the magazine, I’ve decided to answer the questions here. What was an early, memorable theatrical experience? In the 90s, my mom worked at Sears, which had a Ticketmaster outlet, which meant she could get
1309, 2025
Was the Master’s Degree Worth It?
This is a perennial question in the writing community: is getting a Master’s worth the time and expense? So I’m going to talk about my experience and point of view. Your mileage, as ever, may vary. I got my undergrad degree in Radio-Television-Film (RTF is what we called it) Communication from the University of Texas at Austin. My focus was
1209, 2025
What Makes “20 August” Special?
Not the date, the play I wrote. (It exists as a screenplay, too, but a definitive film version wouldn’t have the impact the play is designed for.) 20 August is a play about four twenty-somethings trying to figure out their lives. It’s told from Dixon’s point of view. He’s an aspiring novelist living off his parents’ money. His “girlfriend” Charlotte
1109, 2025
Why Me?
This is not a “woe is me” post. It’s meant to answer the question: “Why should I ask M Pepper Langlinais/Amanda Innes to speak at my writing conference or convention?” After all, though I’ve had some books that have done well, I’m not exactly a household name. Most writing events look for recognizable books, authors, editors, agents, etc. And that’s
0609, 2025
Manifesting Destiny Returns!
In 2016, my young adult novel Manifesting Destiny was published by… a small publisher. It did fairly well on release, actually, although I didn’t love the way they formatted the paperback. And then I also couldn’t get local bookstores to carry the paperback because the publisher used Amazon to create it, and many bookstores don’t want to sell products made