The Hardest Book I’ve Ever Written

Every writer’s process is different. Some get a story in their head and know exactly where there want it to go. I’m not one of those people. I’m what’s referred to as a “pantser,” which means I “write by the seat of my pants.” I might have vague ideas, but mostly, I don’t know what’s going to happen. The characters develop organically and the story goes where it goes.

Random & chaotic? Yeah, maybe. But it works for me. Usually.

In the case of Nick UnCaged – the book I just released in mid October – it didn’t. I sat in front of my laptop for hours, only to hit brick wall after brick wall and start all over again.

I can honestly say I’ve never had that happen before.

Temporary writer’s block, sure. But not successive months of feeling like I couldn’t craft a good story if my life depended on it.

I can blame lots of things: the pandemic, political turmoil, an unfortunate series of events in my personal life. Hey, life is like that. Bad things happen to all of us. But writing has always been my escape from the real world, and to lose the ability to do that was crushing. I powered through, and eventually, Cage and Bree showed me the way. I will tell you this, though – I will never again take the gift of being able to escape into another world of my own creation for granted.