Blog Post #1

📖 Why I Finally Decided to Write the Book That’s Been in My Head for Years

This story has been in my head—and partially on paper—for almost 20 years now… ever since I saw the 1996 movie Romeo + Juliet. I remember thinking:

Wow, how clever to take such an old and outdated story and bring it into a modern setting.

It worked. It made this love story accessible in a way Shakespeare’s original can’t quite manage for today’s readers. It proved something important:

These stories are timeless.
Forbidden love never goes out of style.

And that got me thinking…

💡 The Spark of an Idea

What other stories would be interesting if re-told in a modern world?

Rust and Wildflowers was actually inspired by the Greek tragedy Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides. Loosely told, it's the story of a king who seeks a suitor for his daughter.

Now, this is where my memory of the original and my own writing part ways.

🚨 SPOILER ALERT

(Also: ⚠️ Trigger Warning – Self-Harm Mentioned)

If you haven’t read the book and don’t want the ending spoiled, this is your chance to tap out. Stop. Right. Now.

Still here? Cool.

In my memory, the king disapproves of the suitor his daughter chooses and conspires to have him murdered. But, as murder conspiracies are so oft to do, something goes horribly wrong—and the princess is killed instead.

Wracked with guilt and loss, the king kills himself.

Is that how the original Greek tragedy goes? Not exactly. But that’s the version that stuck in my head. And it stuck hard.

🖤 I Like It When Everyone Dies

What can I say?
I have a dark sense of humor. Apparently, I also have a dark sense of drama.

So, Self, I thought, what would this story look like today?

Not a king. Maybe just an average man.

And what might a father disapprove of in a modern love interest?

Age gap. Not gross-old, but old enough to make it weird.
The kind of weird that makes a protective father twitch.

📝 The 12-Year Chapter

Over the years, I’d write a chapter or two, then drop it and go live life.

A few years later, I’d pick it back up. Read what I’d written. Not hate it quite as much as usual. Tweak a few things. Write another chapter.

Twelve years later, I had about three and a half decent (rough) chapters.

🎨 A Detour: Children’s Books & Trivia

In 2017, I wrote and illustrated a children’s book for my niece and published it on Amazon KDP. And then… I forgot about it. Did zero marketing. Took zero action.

Fast forward to six months ago—I’m spiraling down a YouTube rabbit hole and stumble on a video about how Amazon KDP is still relevant in 2025.

People still read? Like… actual books?

Apparently, yes.

🤓 Why Not a Trivia Book?

At the time, I’d been hosting a weekly trivia night at a local bar and had saved two years’ worth of original, fact-checked questions.

So I thought, Why not compile this and put it on Amazon?

It seemed easy. I already had the content.

Just had to… you know… organize 1,500+ questions, format the whole thing, edit it, upload it…
(Okay, it wasn’t easy. But at least I wasn’t starting from scratch.)

🏁 The Contest Deadline That Changed Everything

While uploading the trivia book, I noticed Amazon was running a contest: StorytellerUK2025.

Deadline? Six weeks.

Could I? In six weeks? What’s the harm in trying…

I dusted off my sad little folder of neglected chapters and got to work.

⚡ When It Finally Clicked

Here’s the crazy part:
This time, writing felt completely different.

For once, I had a clear framework: beginning, middle, end.

The characters had been living in my head for so long, they were fully fleshed out. The story just… flowed.

I didn’t have to create them.
I just had to listen.

💀 The Writing Grind (and Joy)

I wrote for 8+ hours a day, hunched over my kitchen table, morphing into the chair like some sad, caffeinated fossil.
Then came the editing.
And proofreading.
And rewrites. (Ugh.)

Not as bad as cleaning porta-potties at Burning Man,
but still not great.

But I had a goal: submit the damn book.

Do I think I’ll win the contest?
Not a snowball’s chance in hell.
Or whatever the literary version of that is.

But that deadline got me to finally do it.

📚 The Book Is Out. Now Comes the Worst Part.

Marketing.

This is where I bailed last time.
I’m not going to buy boxes of books and beg bookstores to put one on a shelf.
I’m not good at selling myself.

I’m an introvert.
I want to create—not schlep.

But here I am… trying to figure out how to stand out in a world where thousands of people upload AI-generated garbage to Amazon every single day.

And yes, I want the book to be read.
Not just “written.”

I want strangers to finish the last page,
wipe a tear from their eye,
and say: “Wow. That was good.”

Is that too much to ask?

👋 Stay tuned. I’ve got more to say.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. This was blog post #1.

There’s more coming—behind-the-scenes chaos, writing struggles, and probably a rant or two about formatting nightmares.

Subscribe, follow… (please don’t ignore me… apparently this is tied into some serious validation issues that I have!)
I’ll be writing either way.