I recently read Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Silver Flames, the latest instalment in her massively popular YA series “A Court Of Thornes And Roses”. It follows Nesta Archeron, who up until this point in the series had been only a side character, the sister of the main protagonist Feyre Archeron.

Previously in A Court of Wings and Ruin, both Feyre and Nesta were in a battle that changed both of their lives for the better…and for worse. Their father, a mostly neglectful and uncaring man throughout their entire lives, ended up sacrificing himself for his children — but…

For a long time, maybe since I was eight, I have defined myself by the statement “I am a writer”.

To many people, this can mean different things. It could mean you’ve written a book. Or you’ve written more than one book. Or you have New York Times best-sellers, and you didn’t consider yourself a “writer” until you became successful. Or you write blog posts like me (probably way more consistently!) and you have a reliable, hungry audience for your work.

It could also mean you wrote a play, a movie script, some fan-fiction story on Wattpad, you journal, you…

Up until a really short while ago, I was in a bit of a rut when it came to writing. I was deep in what I now believe was Writer’s Burnout. Now, it’s not like I aspired to be the next J. K. Rowling or Stephen King (though it wouldn’t hurt to one day be on that level of success) but I had — and still have — very firm goals when it comes to writing. Reasonable goals, I told myself.

I made a new years resolution to have completed what I plan to be my debut novel by the…

I have always loved writing. I know it sounds cheesy, but it is something I believe I was just born to do.

I started writing as early as 8 years old, around the time I read a book without pictures for the first time. It was a very eye-opening experience for me. It was like suddenly glimpsing my own world that existed solely in my imagination. My mind came alive, and I would carry that book everywhere, trying to recapture that feeling by reading it over and over again.

After being introduced to the world of stories, I found storytelling…

I remember being great. I remember being able to sit down at my computer like I’m doing now, decide to write a full-length chapter in a day, and then do it. Just like that.

I’m not saying the chapter took a short time to write or was easy to write, but I could do it. It was the surety in myself and my abilities, that I could do what I set my mind to when I set my mind to do it, that was the lifeline I clung to.

And now? Now, I’m spiralling. Spiralling because it is taking me…

If one reads for escapism, can it also be said that they write for escapism as well?

If we seek out novels to achieve some sort of wish-fulfillment, is that why we so often become sad or angry if the story doesn’t go the way we want it to? Or if the ending totally sucks? Or if the protagonist is too whiny, “quirky”, or just not relatable enough that we end up rooting against her/him?

I’m currently writing a YA urban fantasy slow-burn romance novel (whew, that’s a lot of tags), and I’ve had these types of questions haunt me…

STRUGGLES

I grew up as a Christian. There was nothing else that I could have been. My mother and father are both Christians so they raised us accordingly.

And not just any Christians. We’re Seventh-Day Adventists.

My mother was previously Catholic, but when she married my dad she switched to Protestant and stopped wearing earrings and pretty baubles. I’m not exactly sure about why jewellery is banned in my church, but it probably has something to do with not being vain.

But for us kids, there was no choice about it. We were going to be Christians and we were going…

For a very long time in my writing process, I found myself having writer’s block.

This was not because I had a shortage of ideas. Oh, no. If you read my article linked below, you will see that having ideas come to me was not my problem.

What was my real issue was that I lacked the motivation to put them down onto paper. Simply put, I was lazy. I still am. As I’m typing this article, I’m lying on my bed, I haven’t showered, and I’m wearing a nightie that reads ‘I AM IN ENERGY SAVING MODE’.

Anyways, when…