I stepped from the warmth of the fortress keep and into the freezing night, pulling my raven braid over my shoulder and the goat-skin cloak closer about my frame. I missed the sharp cornered wooden scribes’ book which usually dangled from my neck, but Kiltie had suggested it would be unnecessary. So I had left it. No stars were apparent in the sky, and yet, through a slivered gap in the cloud, I could glimpse moonlight. And then it was gone. I shivered, hurrying on my way to the watchtower...
11 days ago • 9 min read
Y'all heard it first!(or probably just saw it first, not sure how you're hearing the words off your screen.) Authors Collective has just officially launched our YouTube channel. Five videos were released Friday evening around 6PM Central and we are super excited to share them with y'all! https://youtube.com/@authorscollective?si=wLjqJvuqk2zAMff- We hope y'all folks enjoy our ramblings, and hope you give us some grace for improvement. As of right now we only have one of us(that I know of) with...
15 days ago • 1 min read
Y’all. I think its literally been less than a year since I bought and read Brigitte Cromey’s “The Shattered Ones” and “In The Unbreaking” The two books that, along with Outsiders, really kickstarted a new portion of life for me. Giving a lot of hope and filling me with a desire to look for the beautiful things in life, to realize just how much beauty was surrounding me on the day to day, and quit longing for something more than the perfection that God has placed me in. Anyways. All that to...
18 days ago • 1 min read
I’m back! More lessons in cooking… Here we go. Last time we heard about smashing out main characters into who they start out to be, well, now we get to meet a bit of the butter that softens them up. Think of the closest person to you…think of someone you look up to…think of someone who drives you nuts…think of a person you aspire to be like…now think of the people your are around everyday whether you like it or not(yes, I'm talking about siblings, parents, coworkers and classmate). Okay, now...
20 days ago • 4 min read
To Write Clean, or to Not Write Clean? A Writer’s Guide to Navigating the Clean Fiction Debate You’ve probably seen it across the internet. Substack, Bookstagram, and Booktok is all hopping with the same buzzword— clean fiction. A concept usually coined by the Christian homeschool community, now up for debate in almost every genre from Middle Grade Adventure to romance novels. Basically, the idea of books without “content”. Books without “bad things” like language or sex. Books that can be...
25 days ago • 7 min read
Nicole spun herself around in her chair, kicking off of the legs of her desk again, and again, and again, and again— Until her foot missed and struck only air, slowing the spin enough for the mixed bile in her stomach to begin bubbling angrily. The room melted for a moment before she squeezed her eyes shut, forced to wait for her body to catch up to the slowed and soon still chair. Eventually Nicole opened her eyes as the nausea passed and the room was popped back to normal as a thanks for...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
The meeting room was bustling with— Nicole burst into laughter and turned to Kaitlin. “‘Spreading plagues’? ‘What are children for’? Nicholas is going to be shocked to find out he was once one!” “To be honest though, he didn’t get much of a childhood. So, keep that in mind,” Kaitlin pointed out with a smile before turning back to the snippet Nicole had pinned onto the share board, alongside the one she’d put herself. “Ah, that makes sense,” Nicole hummed. —Well, the bustling didn’t seem too...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Megan smiled as she pinned up her latest snippet onto the board, unraveling the thin but lengthy paper to make sure the full text could be seen. It almost looked like a receipt, a receipt of torture! Megan laughed to herself with a scoffing breath and pulled a chair from the meeting table to the side of the board. She wasn’t just going to wait around for people to barge into her office, she wanted to see their faces! Faces get very twisty and distorted when they’re showing shock, or horror,...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
“Nicole! Hurry!” Giana hissed, gesturing for the author to scurry into her office. Nicole glanced over. That wasn’t a good sign. Her eyes flicked down and up the halls. No Megan or Gil in sight— “Now!” Giana urged. Okay, no Megan or Gil that she could see. She rushed into the office and Giana shut the door behind her, locked it, and then Kylie shoved a chair under the handle. Kaitlin and Lorelai let out a breath from where they sat in what seemed to be a broken up circle in the back corner of...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
