Writing & Publishing

Publishing loves a schedule. Stories, inconveniently, are less obedient. I wrote about delayed books, creative burnout, and the guiding principles helping me protect the work, the wonder, and my sanity.

Creative work is increasingly public. We share updates, track metrics, and celebrate milestones. But being seen doing the work is not the same as getting better at it. On the difference between performance and practice, and why the deepest growth often happens offstage.

Finished the manuscript? Congratulations — and welcome to the next challenge. In this first Adventures in Self-Publishing essay, I explore the shift from writer to publisher, the reader-facing decisions that follow, and why self-publishing is more than pressing upload and hoping for the best.

At first glance indie publishing looks overwhelming. My advice is not to look at the whole thing at once. That way madness lies. Break it down into individual pieces, work through them one at a time and celebrate ticking them off on the master document.

A book cover is more than decoration—it signals genre, tone, audience, and professionalism before a reader ever reaches the blurb. Drawing on expensive lessons from The Chic Crone, I explore thumbnail testing, print colour, designer briefs, series branding, and how the right cover helps the right reader recognise your book.