Thank you all so much for the fantastic response to my announcement about a new Danica Burns story. Y'all really know how to make an author feel special. 🥰 The long story short, in case you missed it: I have a story in the new Reader Nation anthology (edited by Mary Stone and J.D. Barker). It's called "Twice Burned," and follows Danica Burns on a new case, investigating a rune-covered body found in Washington State's Lake Crescent. Last Roll of the Die is a collection of twenty thriller...
11 days ago • 2 min read
Hey there! A body in a lake, covered with bizarre, ritualistic runes. A family with a dark secret. An FBI agent who will have to dance with her demons if she wants to solve this case. That's the premise of "Twice Burned," my newest Danica Burns story. When I was invited to submit a story for consideration to the new Reader Nation anthology (edited by Mary Stone and J.D. Barker), I knew I wanted to go deep into the woods. So I returned to one of my favorite places on Washington's Olympic...
25 days ago • 2 min read
Hey there! I took a break from my usual type-type-type mode of working yesterday, and spent the day in the studio at Microcosm Publishing, recording an audiobook. And I hope it's good, because those may be the last words I ever speak. 😅 Wow is my voice tired today. I was recording the audiobook for my creative productivity guide, From Chaos to Creativity: Building a Productivity System for Artists and Writers. I've wanted to see this book (and my other nonfiction) in audio for a long time...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Hey there! I love reading thrillers (you will be shocked to find out—so shocked). When I could only listen to audiobooks while I was recovering from my eye injury (more info, for newer readers), I binge-listened to Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoli and Isles books in series order. Partly because I adore Tess Gerritsen, partly because they've been out long enough that they were all available at the library without any wait time. Those books are dark, but reading them was weirdly comforting. (Except for...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Hey there! I've written before about how much I enjoy researching locations in the Pacific Northwest as I'm writing the Danica Burns books. (Like in this essay about the guy I met in a bar in Cle Elum.) One of my favorite parts of the research is visiting museums. The weirder, the better. For example, I spent a happy few hours wandering around the Cranberry Museum in Long Beach, WA, learning about the process of the cranberry harvest and admiring all the horrifying implements that could...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Hey there! I'm home from my trip and back at work—no more frites and cheese for me for a while! Which is sad for my soul, but probably good for my cholesterol levels. ;) But being back at work does mean writing new books—which is very very good for my soul! I told my VIP Crew about this last month, but I wrote a new Danica Burns short story for an anthology, and that's gotten me rolling on the draft of Book 1 once more. Writing's been slow recently for a lot of boring work-related reasons, so...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Hey there! I’ve spent the past week on a cycle tour of northern England and the Lake District, and the thing that struck me—again and again—was how familiar it all felt. Not just because I spent a bit of time in the Lakes during a study abroad program in college, but because of how embedded some of these towns and landscapes are in literary culture. As we walked along Hadrian’s Wall, I couldn’t help but think of Game of Thrones and the Ice Wall protecting known civilization from unknown...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Hey there! I’ve been on the road this past week, visiting family back in the Old Country: the Netherlands. Windmills, tulips, and bicycles galore. Yes, Kwak is a Dutch name! (Though it’s a much more common Korean last name, so you’d be justified if you were wondering if that’s my provenance.) A year or so ago, I asked my ocularist to make me a Delft Blue eye as a nod to my heritage, and this week I got to wear that eye at the Royal Delft Museum. I grew up with Delft Blue dishes all around me....
4 months ago • 4 min read
Hey there! Hi!!! Okay, yes, I know it's been a minute. Life has been packed with day job work* and I'm back to writing fiction in scraps of time that I catch between client projects. (*For those who don't know, my day job is ghostwriting business books and memoir + coaching authors who are writing nonfiction. If you are curious about that, head here.) The good news is that I have still been finding time to write, and it looks like there will be more on the horizon. Yay for writing! Over the...
5 months ago • 2 min read
Hi there! I've told this story before in this newsletter, but it's been a few years—and I've had a lot of new subscribers since then. Plus, it's been on my mind this week. I grew up with two major cultural influences that shaped my morality: Christianity and Star Trek. The core messages meshed surprisingly well: Care for your neighbor, Do unto others, The needs of the many outweigh the need of the few. These influences have driven me my entire life. They drive me today. They drive my need to...
6 months ago • 5 min read