Hello all! Surprise, I’m back a bit early with a release update!

I’ve written a short story, “Emma’s New Love”, which is now available for free at most retailers. It’s about 2,000 words and is a glimpse into the lives of two best friends.

When Emma falls for a boy, she locks herself in her room and ignores the world. Her best friend Cece has a unique method for getting answers…

I had been hoping to get this out by Valentine’s Day, but it took a longer to upload everywhere than I’d hoped it would. But hey, it’s still February and I’m sure we’re all still feeling the love!

Check it out!

This story came about in a really fun way. I was looking through my writing folder and sorting some things when I saw a document title I didn’t recognize. Lo and behold, there was about 75% of the story written already! So, I fixed it up and here we are.

I’ve struggled writing shorter works for a long time, but a few years ago, when I was in a creative slump, I pushed myself to write some. This is one of the more successful attempts I made, and I’m happy with how it turned out. It stretched out my writing muscles and made me approach it in a different way.

Another interesting change was that I wrote this story in third person instead of my usual first person POV. I really wanted to challenge myself in the hopes that it would help me break out of the funk I’d been in. And I think it did! Since then, I’ve started a few WIPs with third person POV, though none are ready to be shared. But there’s some ideas I have where that POV really lends itself to the story better than my usual.

Other News

I finally made the decision to pull the Kindle versions of my books from Amazon. I have unpublished them all and are gone from the platform as of now.

Recently, Amazon announced a feature that would let readers "ask" the book questions as they went along. An AI tool would then scan the part of the book they'd read so far and answer the question. Authors were not warned or given the option to opt out. We consent by virtue of having our work on the platform.

I don't want to know what their AI tool would then do to the material of my book it scanned and I don't intend to find out. Two of my books were already used to train LLMs without my consent (the LLMs scraped a site full of pirated books) and I am tired of others profiting off my work.

The paperbacks of my published books will still be available. For I Knew Him and Be True, the paperbacks won't be available until release day because Amazon doesn't do print pre-orders.

It's a bit of a scary undertaking since Amazon is a popular retailer, but I'm hopeful in readers finding me elsewhere. There are lots of options for my ebooks, including Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and Apple.

Don’t forget!

Both my novels I Knew Him and Be True are available for pre-order. The paperback editions are finally processed and being uploaded to the proper channels. I will be updating the purchase links as more retailers offer the paperbacks. The digital ebook stores are fully populated now!

Pre-order I Knew Him

Pre-order Be True

Don’t forget, you can request a digital Advanced Reader Copy for either (or both) books now. Check it out!

And that’s all from me this time! I hope you enjoy “Emma’s New Love.” If you do, be sure to leave a review!