What you think does matter

The High Road of Suspense I’m sitting here at my desk, surrounded by empty coffee cups and crumpled notes, and I’ve come to a realization: I just might be going insane. When you tell people you’re writing a book - thriller, suspense, or mystery, there’s an unspoken expectation. People assume that to be "edgy" or "gripping," a book needs to be drenched in raunchy scenes and peppered with every four-letter word in the dictionary. So when I told people I wanted to write a 'clean book' that preteens, YA, and even adults can enjoy, they gave me this weird look.  People don't read clean books? Trying to write a book that is clean but still deeply intriguing is, quite frankly, a massive struggle. It’s actually much harder than the alternative. If I’m stuck on a scene, I can’t just throw in a gratuitous moment or a string of profanities to manufacture "intensity." I have to work for it. I have to make the stakes higher, the dialogue sharper, and the my...

  Is Your Child a "Reluctant Reader"? Try the "Fast-Start" Method We’ve all been there. You find a book you know your child will love. It has a great message, beautiful prose, and a protagonist they can relate to. You hand it over with high hopes, only to find it three days later gathering dust on the nightstand, page four still marked by a lonely bookmark. When you ask why they stopped, the answer is almost always the same: "It’s too slow." As parents, it’s easy to feel frustrated. We remember the magic of getting lost in a story for hours. But we also have to be honest—our kids are growing up in a world of "instant gratification" media. Between the 15-second loops of TikTok, the high-octane stimulus of Roblox , and the rapid-fire pacing of YouTube, a traditional book that spends fifty pages "setting the scene" feels like a horse and buggy trying to race a Ferrari. If your child is a reluctant reader, the problem probably isn't th...