"charmingly witchy adult fantasy" ~Booklife Reviews

Fans of cozy fantasies and compelling adult women protagonists who find purpose—and fabulousness—in nature, magic, and new connections will adore the laid-back, lavender-scented vibes as Olivia goes from destitute loneliness to settling into the charming village of Rowanswood, whose scones, teas, crockery, beasts, magic, and ritual all are described with inviting relish. Olivia’s journey to Cronehood is nuanced, her struggles endearingly human as she finds her path toward letting go of her old life to embrace the new.

Writing

A cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows floating on top. It sits on a table in front of a fire. It's snowing outside.

The Best Hot Chocolate, a recipe from Hiss

“Did you know that the secret to the best hot chocolate is to basically just use melted chocolate? With maybe a dash of heavy cream.”

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AI Training: What Every Author Needs to Know about Book Piracy

A great hullabaloo arose in Author World over an article recently published by The Atlantic. It blows open the extent to which companies like Meta are using pirated books to train their AI models. LibGen is the pirated books data base and it now houses millions of books

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AI and the self-published author

AI and the Self-published Author

One of the hottest topics in recent years has been AI especially for self-published authors. This post outlines my stance on using AI as a powerful writing tool, not as a replacement for human creativity. There are still a lot of unanswered questions around copyright, the ethics of using author

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A scene looking over the ocean with a misty horizon in the distance.

I’m Not Writing to Prove Myself Anymore

For a very long time, I treated writing as a referendum on my worth. Not consciously, perhaps — but emotionally? That was often the system running underneath everything. Lately, though, something has been changing. I’m still ambitious. I still want readers. But I no longer want to build a creative life fuelled entirely by pressure.

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Guiding Principles for Author Sanity

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.

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