Category: A Writer’s Journey

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Writing that Healed

In a recent class with my students taking The Writer in You course, we had a session about the metaphorical drawer. During that class, I referred to many of the projects that I have in the drawer, and I discussed the various reasons why a manuscript might be put in there.

During that discussion, I hinted at one project I have totally lost the desire to pull out and finish. I didn't go into any details about why I have no desire to finish that project, and I didn't go into any details about the project itself, because those details were irrelevant for the class.

But a few days later, my subconscious brain decided that I needed to "dream" about that story. Not the reasons behind the story, but the story itself—the writing, the journey, and the growth.

I still don't have any desire to finish the story, but to deny that the story exists would be to deny a portion of my journey and the growth that I had within my writing skills.

So, I've decided that I need to share snippets of that writing with the world. From a writing and editing perspective, those pieces are gold.

If I am honest with myself, they are really good. Sure, that writing came from a time in my life when I was living in fear of a particular person, consciously aware that I had inadvertently given this person the power to destroy my writing career before it had even begun. It took a long time to regain my power, cutting that person out of my life. But I refuse to let a voice that has no consequence or power over me anymore make me silent going forward.

In today's post, I'm going to give you a little insight into a really bad time in my life. And I'm going to share with you what was meant to be the opening scene from a thriller novel that I had started but will never finish.

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Woman watching the sunset

2026 Theme: Commit to Self

Every year, I encourage the members of my various writing groups to pick a word or a phrase that will be a signpost for their actions (and decisions) for the coming year. The idea is that we often know that there is an aspect of our lives that we want to change (improve) in some way. But instead of making a New Year’s resolution that we forget and ignore, we’re providing our subconscious brains with a mantra that we can repeat over and over, helping to guide our actions.

I started doing this myself back in… I think it was 2016. At first, it was just recognizing an aspect of my personality that seemed to be ingrained into my psyche. The word eventually grew to a short phrase.

10 years later, and I still set a word or a phrase for the coming year. And this year, in a way, I’ve set both.

2026 Phrase: Commit to Self

2026 Word: Self

This year’s word and phrase are not about being selfish. It’s quite the opposite. But they are about realizing that if I don’t take the time to recharge and shut away from the world occasionally, I’m going to burn out. And in certain interactions with others, if I don’t put myself first in the equation, others will continue to walk all over me, taking advantage of my goodwill.

It’s time to take the time to discuss what my 2026 word and phrase mean to me.

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2025 was a Big Step Forward

Presenting at online conferences and for various organizations. Running writing workshops. Publishing a novel. And being named one of ten New Voices of Aotearoa.

There is no doubt about it: 2025 has been a massive year for me, with a huge step forward within my writing career. But there were also massive steps forward within my physical and mental wellbeing too. And here's hoping that 2026 sees the momentum continue.

It's that time of year again, when I look back at the year just been and celebrate my successes.

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The Inner Critic… Will they win?

Editing... Just when I thought I had finished with this manuscript, there it is again. The revisions go on, and on, and on, and on... Did I mention that they go on and on?

When you're writing, it's the inner critic that whispers sweet little nothings about self-doubt that just won't go away. If you're anything like me, you type so fast that sometimes your brain struggles to keep up; the spelling goes out the window and the autocorrect monster just gobbles up that carefully chosen word... without you noticing!

But the editor in me can't just let a new piece of writing go unchecked. I always go back and reread what I had written after a break (even a break as short as a toilet break). I see the punctuation errors, the grammar flaws, and the faults in the writing itself. I struggle in a big way to shut off the editor brain long enough to actually do any writing.

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Death of the Author (Literary Term Explained)

I don't remember where I first heard the term, but I had encountered an entire conversation on one of my social media channels about the death of the author. It turns out that it's a term that refers back to an essay from 1967. In that essay, entitled The Death of the Author, Roland Barthes postulated the idea that at some point (after publication), a story takes on a life of its own, separate from the writer's intentions.

The idea makes sense when you think about it, because readers will add their own context and meaning to things based on their personal experiences. However, the essay has been debated for many long years about how much an author's intent should be incorporated into literary discussions about the meanings behind a written work.

In today's post, I want to take a look at this death-of-the-author idea, pointing out how I'm watching my own death unfold before my eyes… and my novel is still a newly-published work.

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