Tales From The Coffee Shop

Comatose , for the most part, is finished. So now what? That was the first thing that slipped out of my mouth when I realized I’d written the final word. “Now what do I do?” I tried reading another book, but I think I need to wait a bit. Right now every book sounds better than mine—or maybe I just chose the wrong one to start with. I probably shouldn’t have jumped straight into the book everyone says “made them think and look up definitions for the first time in years.” Anyone would feel a little small after that. So instead of forcing myself to read, I decided there’s no time like the present to start the next piece of the Awake world: Dystortia—the standalone that was never supposed to be. Dystortia , like Comatose, has lived in countless notebooks over the years. Longer than Comatose , actually. It’s the story I started writing at twelve years old, rewriting it over and over only to feel like it kept falling short of what I wanted it to be. But this time feels different. This time, ...

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post. Not that long ago, a break like this would’ve meant one thing—  that I’d fallen off the horse again. Whenever I disappeared from a project, people around me usually took it as a sign that my latest adventure had run its course. I’d either end up making an awkward video explaining why it “just wasn’t for me,” or I’d go silent and never bring it up again. And if I went silent, well, that was the unspoken signal: I’d given up. That’s how it used to be. But this time? This silence meant something entirely different. This time, the quiet was productive. It was intentional. It was me doing the work I’ve always dreamed of finishing. I had tight deadlines for Comatose—four months to write two drafts and prepare Beta Reader copies by September 22nd. I didn’t meet that first deadline. And at first, I panicked. Every time I’ve missed a deadline in the past, I’ve lost momentum. But this time, I pushed it to October 10th and decided that instead...

  When I think about “womanhood” and the “women support women” movement, yesterday is what comes to mind. SenLinYu is the author of one of the most printed — and yes, illegally sold — fanfics of all time. She wrote it in a fandom that isn’t even canon to the HP universe, but has become one of the most debated, loved, and hated Harry Potter ships out there: Dramione. For those who don’t know, Dramione is an entire community built around one moment in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — the moment Draco Malfoy could have followed through with villainous behavior, but didn’t. The moment we realized that while he may have hated the Golden Trio, he didn’t want them dead. It was the first glimpse that Draco wasn’t just a “bad guy.” He was a child thrown into impossible situations by the choices of his family. J.K. Rowling herself has condemned the idea of Draco and Hermione together, saying Draco was always meant to be bad. But my take has always been: if you didn’t want him t...

I’ve had to take a step back these last few days and really look at what I’ve been watching unfold. In just 48 hours, the country I’ve loved my entire life feels completely changed. Several of my posts were taken down because someone reported them for “violating community standards.” What were those posts about? Me saying I didn’t want fighting or bickering — and me saying I would no longer stay silent. This was right after Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air for supposedly making comments about a certain celebrity who is no longer with us — except he never said those things. What he actually said was directed at our “fearless leader,” who is planning to build a “big, beautiful ballroom” in a house he’s supposed to vacate in three years. Does this sound familiar to anyone else? Because it should. This is exactly how it started in Germany in the 1930s. My mind has been buzzing nonstop since. It feels like I’m preparing for a war no one will officially name. I can feel myself scan...

The days are getting more overwhelming as we go along. A week ago, I was going about my day as usual — starting at the coffee shop, getting everyone where they needed to go, squeezing in a little DoorDash. That afternoon, I heard about the untimely death of a certain someone (I refuse to speak his name because, frankly, he has gotten far too much attention this past week) and I didn’t feel any sort of way. If you had told me then that the United States would be even more divided than it already was over the passing of someone who made racism, transphobia, and anti-women’s rights part of his platform, I would have thought you were crazy. And if you had told me that his death would cause left-leaning people to turn against left-leaning people — and some on the right to turn against their own — I would have called that impossible. I have tried so hard to keep the peace on my social media. I rarely post political content. I don’t stir the pot or rock the boat. And I take full respon...

Yesterday was rough. I spend more time on TikTok than any other social media app because it’s easy to use and — as someone trying to market a book — it’s been the best platform for growing a following. But yesterday? TikTok wasn’t my friend. It was my enemy. The world we live in is scary. Maybe it always has been — but now, with social media and the constant stream of news at our fingertips, it feels louder. More inescapable. And with real violence escalating all around us, it’s the perfect storm to leave everyone overwhelmed. There’s a corner of TikTok for almost every interest you can imagine: MomTok, BikerTok, WitchTok, AuthorTok , and maybe the most famous of them all — BookTok. BookTok is where this whole journey started for me. It’s where I got my first book recommendation after a seven-year reading slump . It’s where I made my first bookish friends. It’s where I found other writers who understood this dream I’ve been chasing. But like every other community, BookTok has its toxic...