Welcome to my first official author newsletter! I totally meant to get this out in February, which means my next newsletter will be coming your way in May, two months instead of what I intended to be three.

Writing Update

Editing, editing, and more editing.

That's been my writing life lately, and while it may sound boring, it's actually a good sign! When I started writing my current project back in 2023, I had very little idea what I was doing. This vague idea of a character who'd been forced to help a supervillain and was now dealing with the ramifications of those actions had been in my head for a few years, but I never gave it much credit because--so I thought--I didn't write contemporary fiction. I certainly didn't write superhero contemporary fiction. The short version is, God nudged me to write it anyway, and so I did.

By the time I finished, I'd learned a lot. Not only about the story itself (hello, characters I didn't know would exist until 30,000 words in), but also about how to make that story more believable. I attended a local Citizens' Police Academy, visited countless websites, and read so many books, fiction and non, to learn about law enforcement, the legal process, superpowers, you name it. All that research pointed me to one clear reality: I needed to rewrite the beginning of this novel to make it work. Bits and pieces of it could be copied and pasted with minor tweaks, yes, but most of the first quarter needed a complete reworking. So, after a mad dash to finish my first draft before Realm Makers 2025 and a month-long break to give my brain a rest, I've been steadily working through those first dozen or so chapters. That's why the fact I'm now editing is exciting: it means I've finally finished the rewrites!

In other news, some of you know I submitted a proposal to an acquisitions editor back in December 2025. Well, I heard back, and while her response was very kind it was a no. She feels my novel is too speculative for what they're looking for right now--and I don't entirely disagree. I say "entirely", not because I think she's wrong, but because that tells me the way I'm describing the book might not be true to the story. While the superpower elements set the stage, they really take a backseat to character relationships and personal growth as the story progresses. So, I appreciate her feedback and will continue to search for my novel's home, while also refining how I summarize and present it to agents and editors. The work continues!

A Book I Enjoyed (And Hope You Will, Too)! The Shattered Ones by Brigitte Cromey Why I enjoyed it: Dystopian sci-fi with a Southwestern flair Found family Satisfying conclusion (no cliffhanger) that still leaves you eager for book two In the Unbreaking, the second book in the series, released 11/12/25. I haven't read it yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

Devotional Thought: You Weren't Meant to Live in the Wilderness

Scripture reference Numbers 20:2-13

Maybe it's not nice to say this, but sometimes I just want to smack the Israelites. Don't you? Especially in the middle three books of the Pentateuch. Here God's freed them from slavery to the Egyptians, parted the Red Sea, provided manna and quail and water to sustain them. He's literally guided them with pillars of cloud and fire through the wilderness. Yet, again and again, they grumble! They lack something and, rather than asking God for it, they complain and spark his anger. They naively think things were better in Egypt and repeatedly lament the life they left behind. This is where we find them in Numbers 20.

Not for the first time, the Israelites find themselves in a place with no water. They tell Moses they and their livestock are going to die, and it's no place for growing food. In other words, it's not a place where they can prosper. And after everything that's happened over the past few books I found myself yelling, out loud, to these people when I read this, "You weren't meant to stay there!" Of course it wasn't a place to prosper. This was not the promised land! They were supposed to conquer Canaan, a land repeatedly described as "flowing with milk and honey." And, what's more, they knew they were supposed to conquer this prosperous land, yet they chose not to! Check out Numbers 13-14 for that story.

I think this carries an important lesson for us. Maybe God's told you to go somewhere, do something, invest in a relationship--fill in the blank--and you've refused. Or maybe not. Maybe you've tried to obey and still found yourself in a wilderness season. My focus here is not so much on why we might find ourselves in the wilderness as it is on this: even in the midst of the wilderness, we can take heart in the fact that we're not meant to stay there. Just as God offered Israel the abundant land of Canaan, Christ came to offer us abundant life (John 10:10). We know the promise of our inheritance in him, and, rather than grumbling like the Israelites, we can find hope in that promise even when it feels far off.

Also, just to add to the hope we have, God shows he can and will provide for us even while we're in the wilderness. All we have to do is ask. Look at verse 11: Moses struck the rock and "water came out abundantly" (ESV).

May God show his abundance in your life this week, friends.

Thanks for reading! I'm still figuring out how this newsletter thing works, so you may see some changes in format/design/content/etc. as I learn more.

See you in two months!