My Writing Journey
I began writing in February 2025, when I was unemployed following my resignation from the U.S. government. With the time I had, and having recently done the difficult work of deconstructing purity culture and toxic positivity (recommendations: Linda Kay Klein’s Pure and Kate Bowler’s Everything Happens for a Reason), I began obsessively writing The Acolyte’s Heresy (TAH). This 260,000-words tome should be a trilogy, but I wanted to make it available to readers as a complete novel because it just takes that long to complete the character arcs realistically. I was beginning to learn about the craft of fiction writing, but for TAH, the story flowed out based on knowing what emotional beats the main characters needed to hit, what lessons they needed to learn, and how difficult it is to learn those lessons based on my own experiences being born and raised in and then leaving the Unification church and being the eldest daughter.
As I was completing TAH in July 2025, I began to look into traditional publishing and realized that TAH was probably too long, too controversial, and not “hooky” enough. Especially for a debut. While I gave myself time away from TAH so I could edit it with fresh eyes, I began working on a novel that could meet traditional publishing’s expectations.
I set Rissa Must Die (RMD) in the same world but far enough back – 30 years before the events of TAH – that it could be whatever it needed to be. I happened to read a book with a body double (a minor plot point in Leigh Bardugo’s King of Scars) and loved the idea. From there, I drew on my PhD dissertation research on the Axis alliance negotiations and diplomatic work experience to write this 110,000-words political thriller. It is the least speculative and most stylistically experimental of my novels. I also was seeing that a lot of literary agents wanted non-Western worlds, so I leaned into my Japanese heritage for the setting.
Now I was in the editing stages of TAH and RMD – and still waiting for beta reader feedback. So, what did I do while I continued to edit TAH and take a break from RMD? In December 2025, I started plotting my next novel.
There were a couple different elements that came together for Forbidden Ember (FE). First, I read a book that had a dual timeline structure (Jenna Satterthwaite’s Made For You) and it made me want to try that! Second, I realized that though TAH and RMD are fantasy, there is no magic that the humans use and I always love magic. Third, the war that takes place in the time between TAH and RMD was completely underdeveloped. FE is my most fantasy-forward novel and takes place roughly 10 years after RMD and 20 years before TAH. It is currently about 96,000 words.
Remember I mentioned the editing process? As I refined TAH, I realized that for reasons I will not discuss to not spoil TAH in any way, TAH needed a companion novel. In Her Name (IHN) is my newest project, in the plotting stage as of April 2026. Note: TAH is a complete novel on its own and does not require IHN for a satisfying reading experience. But if you love the side characters in TAH, thenyou will love IHN!
I hope that was a fun behind-the-scenes of the approximate timeline for each novel – and what was going on in my life and thought process at the origins of each.
If you are a fellow writer, then drop a comment and say hi! I’d love to know what inspired you to start writing, and if you have any favorite writing coaches. Since February 2025, I have been learning a lot about the craft of writing from YouTube videos and podcasts, including: Alice Sudlow, Savannah Gilbo, Alyssa Matesic, Abbie Emmons, and Brianna Sarovski, among many, many others!
