Tag: indie publishing

A wet dog mid-shake, water flying, with the title "Why I Built the Wet Dog Reading Room" overlaid on the image

Why I Built the Wet Dog Reading Room (and What it Means for You)

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.

How a Tiny Idea Turns Into an Entire Book (Featuring Naked Brainstorming and a Lot of Self-Doubt)

Most people probably imagine authors getting struck by inspiration in beautiful cafés or while staring moodily out rainy windows.

Mine usually arrives while I’m covered in shampoo and trying not to get conditioner in my eyes.

That’s how Erased, Not Gone started: one weird little thought about memory wipes, criminals, and whether losing your past is a punishment or a mercy. By the time I got out of the shower, argued with myself for twenty minutes, and aggressively towel-dried my hair, I had the beginning of a sci-fi romantic suspense novella I absolutely was not planning to write.

This is the story of how a tiny idea snowballed into a full book anyway.