Some stories entertain us for a few hours. Others stay with us long after we’ve turned the final page. As readers, we spend time with characters. We celebrate their victories, grieve their losses, and sometimes find pieces of ourselves in their struggles. By the time a story reaches its conclusion, it feels less like we’ve finished a book and more like we’ve completed a journey.
That’s why endings matter.
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When I first began writing, I assumed most novels should stand on their own. Tell one complete story. Tie up the loose ends. Close the book.
Over the years, though, I’ve discovered that some stories simply refuse to end when you reach the last page. Not because there’s a…
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Most stories disappear quickly.
We watch them. Read them. Finish them. Then move on to the next thing waiting for our attention. A few weeks later, many of the details are already gone. Characters blur together. Endings fade. Entire plots vanish from memory.
And yet every once in a while, a story stays.
Not just for days or months. Sometimes for years. Sometimes for decades. I’ve been thinking…
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Over the last few years, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what stories are actually supposed to do. Not just entertainment. Not just a distraction. Not just another product thrown into an endless feed competing for attention.
Something deeper than that.
Some of the books that have stayed with me the longest were not necessarily the fastest or loudest stories. They were the stories that lingered. The ones that created conversations afterward. The ones that made people sit quietly for a moment after finishing the last page.
And increasingly, I’ve realized how rare that kind of reading experience has become. But…
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Today marks the official launch of Echoes Book Club.
Over the past several months, I’ve been thinking about what kind of reading community I wanted to build. Not a place focused on reading as many books as possible. Not a place built around chasing trends. A place where readers can slow down, spend time with a story, and talk about the ideas, characters, atmosphere, and questions that stay with us long after the final page.
That’s the purpose behind Echoes.
Each month we’ll read a book together and gather to discuss it. Some discussions will take place online. Others will happen in person through local chapters as they develop. Whether you join from across the country or sit around a table with us here on the Oregon coast, the goal remains the same: meaningful conversations about memorable books.
Our June selection is my book In the Meadow, the first novel in the Meadow Trilogy. This month is a little different because we’ll be reading and discussing the novel together as part of the club’s official opening month, with a launch party in Reedsport.
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Not long after the moment I described last month—the moment when I finally allowed myself to say, without qualification, “I’m an author”—I noticed something subtle but important began to change. Nothing dramatic happened. There was no sudden spike in sales, no viral moment, no phone call from a publisher. But my daily behavior began to shift, and that shift has been far more important than any short-term outcome.
For a long time, my relationship to writing had been strangely inconsistent. I could finish manuscripts. I could publish books. I could even plan new projects with enthusiasm. But everything around the work—the structure, the visibility, the communication with readers—was at best sporadic and at worst, nonexistent.
In case you missed it—
Aurora Book 3 was released yesterday.
If you’ve been following the series, it’s available now.
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It’s live.
Aurora Book 3 is now available!
This is where everything shifts. What started as uncertainty turns into something much harder to escape. The questions raised by the first two books no longer remain theoretical.
If you’ve followed the series, this is the point where it either all comes together… or everything falls apart.
This is the version the story was meant to be.
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Two days.
Embracing Light Aurora.
Book 3 of the Aurora series re-releases on March 26.
If you’ve followed the series, you already know this doesn’t resolve things—it only pushes them further. What started as uncertainty for those trapped in the aurora turns into something much harder to escape.
(more…)There are some stories you finish… and then realize you didn’t actually include everything that needed to be included.
Aurora Book 3 was one of those.
The story was always there. The ending was always there. But the way it was presented didn’t carry the weight it was supposed to.
So I pulled it back.
Not to rewrite it—but to sharpen it. To bring it into alignment with what the Aurora series has been building toward from the beginning.
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Not long ago, someone asked me what I did for a living. My family and I were at a festival. It was casual. Nothing formal, and the question came naturally enough. For years, I would have qualified my answer. I would say, “I’m a professor.” Or, “I’m a teacher.” Only occasionally would I add, “Yeah, I also write books.” All technically true, but also slightly evasive.
This time, though, for some reason, I instinctively said, “I’m an author.”
There was a spike of anxiety immediately after I said it—almost a reflexive response to the words. I mentally qualified it. I wanted to soften it, contextualize it, explain it. But I didn’t. I let the sentence stand.
(more…)At the beginning of every year, I try to step back for a moment and look not just at the next book I’m writing, but at the larger shape of the road ahead.
This January has been especially reflective for me.
After finishing another round of revisions and wrapping up the January Catch-Up, I’ve started doing something I haven’t done very often before — planning in-person events more than a few months into the future.
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