I used to listen to everyone. Authors telling me to write to market. Readers asking why the sequel wasn’t out yet. Gurus insisting I needed better hooks, more content pillars, a stronger three-second opener. All of it contradictory. All of it loud. Somewhere in the noise, I stopped enjoying the thing I loved most: books. Holding them. Reading them. Writing them.
Then I read a quote that stopped me cold: comparison is the biggest thief of joy. I couldn’t shake it. So I asked myself what actually brings me joy, and I built something around the answer instead of around what everyone else said I should do.
It’s called the Wet Dog Reading Room, and the name goes back further than you’d think. This is the story of why I built it, what it means for readers who join, and why I’m giving my stories away free before anywhere else.