Tales From The Coffee Shop

  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...

  I’m at a different coffee shop today because Pups and Cups is closed on Mondays (how dare Quinn give his staff a day off. Just kidding — it’s one of the reasons I love being a patron there.) But on my way here, a thought occurred to me, and I can’t stop thinking about it. In recent months, the newest witch hunt against authors has been whether or not they’ve used AI. Authors who have never touched AI have been accused. According to these self-proclaimed experts, anyone who uses an em-dash (oops, I’ve already used one), the word glanced one too many times, the word sharp one too many times — and countless other obscure “signs” — must be using AI. But here’s the thing: this witch hunt isn’t happening because people are afraid of AI taking over publishing. Let’s be honest — AI can write a book, but it will never capture the depth of human emotion or the messy beauty that comes from lived experience. AI books are flat and soulless, and we all know it. The real issue is a moral a...

  We’ve all heard the saying “you learn something new every day” and boy oh boy did today not disappoint…at all.  My routine has been the same all summer. Get up, head to the coffee shop for a few hours, get my Butterbeer (one of their unique specialty drinks) and sit down and write. Every now and then though, I like to change it up a bit and get a caramel macchiato, one of my favorite drinks of all time. Every time I’ve ever ordered one, no one has said a word to me that I was ordering it wrong.  Today, I ordered a caramel macchiato , shocking the coffee shop owner — because let’s be honest, he’s never seen me order anything other than my usual. He didn’t even flinch when I asked for added vanilla, which is my secret sauce for making local shop macchiatos taste like Starbucks macchiatos. A few days ago, I discovered that was the difference — Starbucks adds vanilla syrup . My reaction at the time? Well, that’s good to know. Fast forward to this morning. I’m sipping my dri...

  Sometimes, life surprises us. Not every surprise is good, but sometimes the unexpected turns into one of the best gifts life could give. I was surprised when Comatose started taking shape. Not by the story itself, but by how quickly it began to come together. I was surprised at how it evolved with every rewrite—especially when I made the leap from third person to first (another surprise in itself). And I was surprised at the number of people who cared when I finally admitted I was writing it. My inbox blew up with messages ranging from, “You haven’t written a book already?” to “It’s about damn time.” It turns out I had a support system the entire time—I just didn’t know it. But the biggest surprise of all? I’m so close to finishing. Only a couple of weeks stand between me and the first project I’ve ever started and fully followed through with. And I can already tell—I’m better for it. So take that chance, whatever it is. Write the book. Open the business. Make the move. Let...