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...
13 days 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...
27 days 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...
about 1 month 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...
about 2 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....
2 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...
3 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...
5 months ago • 5 min read
Hi there! We had some friends over for New Year's Eve, and at one point the conversation turned to our favorite books of the last year. I struggled to recall what I'd read for a moment before I realized that Past Jessie had done something smart. She'd started a list! I grabbed my journal, where I jotted down every book I read each month in 2025, and started waxing poetical about my favorites. I'm pretty sure my friend who asked the question was just hoping for one or two recommendations. I...
5 months ago • 4 min read
Hey there! The weather witches do not seem to be foretelling a White Christmas for Portland, Oregon, but I spent all last week swept away by another kind of Snow. So I guess it's okay. What do I mean by that? Let me rewind. Last month at Author Nation, I was sitting out in the mix-and-mingle area, zoning out on my phone when someone settled on the couch next to mine. "Oh hey," I said, because although we hadn't yet had a chance to meet, I'd exchanged passing hellos with this person multiple...
6 months ago • 2 min read
Hey there! Depending on which authors you follow, you might have already heard rumblings of this—but there's a really fabulous holiday countdown promo happening right now! I'll tell you more about it in a second, but first I have a couple of announcements. I have three virtual opportunities for you to hang out with me this week, and I'd love to see your shining faces at any of these. Vintage Books Live! Gets a Raygun! (TONIGHT 7pm PST.) I've joined Christy Peterson with Vintage Books Live!...
6 months ago • 5 min read