Since starting my author social media accounts, I’ve struggled to gain followers, likes, and simply views. I joined TikTok in June 2024. I started posting daily in September 2024. From then until last month, all except 56 of my posts got less than 100 views. Most of them got less than 50, a large percentage… Continue reading Authors’ Social Media Battles
My goal for 2025 was to write the first draft of my young adult fantasy novel. I didn’t finish writing the entire book, but I have written over 67,000 words. I planned for it to be around 80,000, but I’m just now entering the last quarter of the storyline. I still plan for it to… Continue reading What I’ve Learned While Writing My YA Fantasy
My New Year’s resolution this year was to write a completed first draft of my young adult fantasy work-in-progress. This is the same fantasy project I mentioned in a post back in 2023. I wrote the first two scenes without any idea whatsoever of where I was going with it, even within the current scene… Continue reading Plotting My Fantasy Project
In 2024, I read exactly 200 books. They were a mix of YA and adult fantasy, contemporary, urban fantasy, science fiction, and even a couple historical fantasies. I’m not going to list every book I read this year, just the ones I rated four stars (I almost never rate a book five stars because author… Continue reading Reading Recap 2024
For those of you who don’t know, November is National Novel Writing Month. Obviously, the goal is to complete a manuscript by November 30th, usually totaling 50,000 words. I, on the other hand, am doing the opposite. Here’s why: I have been working on my YA fantasy novel for over eight months. Although I am… Continue reading NaNoWriMo – No
Now that summer is officially over, here are some of my favorite books I read between June and September this year. They range between YA and adult fantasy and contemporary, and my reviews are spoiler free. Listed in no particular order: Born of Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout – Adult Fantasy – Book… Continue reading Summer 2024 Reading Recap
“The League” was my first work-in-progress, and the only one that has a completed first draft. I would say it is the most unique of my WIPs, and the one that is the most triggering. You can read the synopsis for it here, so I won’t go into it much in this post, other than… Continue reading The Road to “The League”
I know many authors listen to a playlist when they write. Some curate playlists with songs that encompass the atmospheric tone of the book or chapter. Others listen to songs whose messages match whatever scene they’re writing or that remind them of a specific character to help them get into that headspace. I’ll be honest:… Continue reading Music When I Write
In my last post, Reading Recap April 2023, I mentioned that the reason I didn’t read much during April was because I had something exciting going on in my life. Now that it’s official, I feel comfortable finally sharing it: I got a promotion at the library! I am now the Team Leader of my… Continue reading My New Job Position
As an aspiring writer, it’s to be expected that writing is one of my hobbies. While this is true, there are other activities I enjoy just as much and am just as passionate about. Some of them are predictable, like reading, but I think others may surprise you. Reading Since I subscribe to the age-old… Continue reading The Non-Writing Hobbies of a Writer
Allison Burton 