Almost Finished, but Better
What happens when a perfectly good sentence becomes a twenty-minute conversation.
Read the storyTHE AUTHOR’S JOURNAL
Between
the chapters.
The writing. The wanting.
The life that finds its way onto the page.
Notes from Gunner on building worlds, reading with Nylena, and learning when to let a look say enough.
LATEST · September 29, 2026Almost Finished, but Better →
Writing notes from June 2025 onward.Visit the 2025 archive ↓
EXPLORE THE JOURNAL
A little closer
to the story.
Essays, glimpses behind the books,
and a few things worth staying up for.
17 stories
Every Pair Has to Matter
Three people. Three relationships that each have to earn their place.
Read the story
I Went Looking for My Characters’ Desires and Found My Own
How writing a dark romantasy sent me into the sex education I never received.
Read the story
When Dragons Learned to Feel
I started Kaelyndra’s journals to understand one dragon. They gave me the history of an entire world.
Read the story
A World That Calls a Chain Mercy
What power becomes when the people holding it believe they are doing good.
Read the storyFestivals are rehearsals for a kinder world no one has built yet.
Beyond Wonderland and Back
The BeBop, a cooler full of food, and a festival that keeps finding its way into the books.
Read the story
ReelsOne Festival. One Kiss.
Avylena, Faerwyn, and Sin in a short visual glimpse of Ritual of Starlit Glass.
Watch the reelI was a reader first. I still am.
The Books That Helped Make Me
The writers, the chosen families, and the worlds that became part of our marriage.
Read the storyIt takes someone willing to sit next to you while you learn how to stop protecting the wrong things.
Every Damn Page
On the person willing to tell you when a line you love is standing in the way.
Read the story
Writing lifeHearing the Book Out Loud
Cutting the clever thing. Trusting the scene. Discovering what a sentence sounds like outside my own head.
Read the storyEverything feels perfect because I know the whole story in my head. But the page has to do the work for the reader.
The Page Has to Do the Work
February 2026: reading the manuscript aloud together changed what we could hear, and what we could no longer leave alone.
Read the storyThe title finally caught up.
The Story Found Its Name
December 10, 2025: why Whispers of the Alpha became Breath, Blood & Chain, and what the new name could hold.
Read the storyWe’ve been at this over a year. I love it more now than day one.
The Book Ain’t Done. On Purpose.
The story’s roots in a D&D campaign, the private backstories behind the scenes, and a standard worth working toward.
Read the storyThen she said, “go deeper.”
She Said, “Go Deeper.”
A Vegas trip, a dragon chapter, and the response that sent me back to the pages braver.
Read the storyEvery revision upgrades not just the book, but the writer.
Draft Four Humbled Me
A late-night note from September 2025, when two good lines could send me back through three other chapters.
Read the storyLive a little. Then write like hell.
Live a Little. Then Write Like Hell.
Beyond Wonderland in 2025: the dancing, the people, and the life that feeds the writing.
Read the storyI’m waking up at 4 a.m. with dialogue screaming in my head.
Four in the Morning, Dialogue in My Head
A June 2025 note from inside the first book, with six books already mapped out.
Read the storyNo stories found.
Try a different word or clear the filters.
Originally shared on Facebook, edited for the journal. Original publication dates are retained.
KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING
Read here.
Come talk with me.
Tell me which line stayed with you. Ask about a character. Bring your own reading obsession.
Find Gunner on Facebook ↗