Articles & Essays

Been a bit behind in listing my recent publications - will be updating this page soon!

• "Avoiding Bad Writing Advice" - How to spot bad writing advice and what to do with it (hint: rhymes with "car-badge").
• "Legit Awards for Indie Books" - How to avoid scams and get great recognition for your writing.
• "Why Do Writers Love Pain?" - How to get FEWER rejections and MORE publications.
• "How I Jumped the Line & Got a Book Deal" - Thinking outside the box got my book traditionally published.
• "Hit the Bullseye with Your Writing" - A simple guide for formatting submissions to avoid automatic rejections.
• "What Happens After NaNoWriMo?" - Don't let your words go to waste! How to change your NaNo project into a finished manuscript.
• "Should I Join a Writing Group?" - Why they're important, and how to find the perfect group for you.
• "Searching for the Magic" - One author's insight into why writing a sequel is much harder than writing a first book.
• "The Success of NaNoWriMo" - How I turned 50,000 words into a contest-winning book, and how you can win at NaNoWriMo, too.
• "Write Toward the Fear" - Overcome what's holding you back by confronting it head-on.
• "Budget-Friendly Book Marketing" - Innovative ways to get your work into readers' hands without the high price tag of direct advertising.
• "Failure is the Key to Success" - Learning how to write the hard way, to make the lessons stick.
• "Taking Writing Advice from Fortune Cookies" - A sweet treat of inspiration to overcome self-doubt.
• "The Battle for Good Reading (and Good Writing)" - Trash can be treasure - it just depends on your perspective.
• "Red Flags When Hiring an Editor" - A quick guide to tell if you've found a good editor for your project, or if you should think about going back to the drawing board.
• "The Tao of Receiving Rejections" - Demystifying the agony of an essential part of being a writer.
• "How to Give Your Kids the Writing Spark" - Why my 3 daughters love to write, and what I did to encourage them.
• "Where Can You Submit Your Writing and Get Paid for It?" - 8 helpful databases that will get you started in the right direction.
• ​"Behind the Scenes at Indie Fiction Magazines" - What happens to your story submission after you hit "send?" One editor's experience at three indie publications.​
• ​"How to Submit Your Short Stories, Poems & Essays for Publication: Query Letters" - A breakdown of what to put and not put in query letters, including examples.

• Butadofu - "Not for Samurai," Vocal.media, March 2025. Honorable Mention in A Taste of Home Challenge. My family's recipe for a Japanese "peasant" dish.
• "Scuffins" - Cursed Cooking anthology, Cat Eye Press, November 2024. A vegan, sugar-free recipe for a baked dessert halfway between a scone and a muffin. So good that my kids scarf them up!
• Birthday Cake Pancakes - I have three kids, which means we always have a lot of birthday cake left over after parties. So, my kids and I came up with birthday cake pancakes to use up the leftover cake in a fun and tasty way.

• "Fantasy Versus Reality" - Rom-com portrayals so bad they're good.
• "How to Read More as a Working Parent" - How I juggle a job, kids, and my to-read list.
• "What's the 'Perfect' Gift?" - Rediscover the joy of giving, not the stress.
• "The Struggle of Being Creative" - Why it's okay to give yourself permission to just be "okay."
• "Great Advice from Great Authors" - Three inspiring quotes to start your day.
• "Finding Your Creative Space" - Why creativity is essential for health and peace of mind.
• "Fighting Procrastination" - How to stop shadowboxing against yourself and start accomplishing your goals.
• "Individuality = Success" - How to focus on your individual experiences to achieve your goals.
• " 'Hack' & 'Side Hustle' " - Why some slang phrases are puzzling and cringeworthy.
• "Morning Musings Magazine" - I'm one of the editors for this new Medium publication, currently open for submissions.
• "What Day Is It Again?" - The genetics behind being forgetful.
• "Fortune Cookies for Life" - Drawing inspiration from the sweetest of places.
• "The Accidental Teacher" - My adventures in homeschooling my three kids during the pandemic.
• "What I Learned from Meeting Ray Bradbury" - A look at how meeting one's literary hero isn't always enough.
• "I Apologize in Advance" - Where is the perfect balance between apologizing too much and not apologizing enough?
• "Finding the Right Words" - An essay about why I became a writer.
• "Return to a Golden State" - Looking back on my upbringing in California and how far I've come from where I grew up.
• "Whiskey, Sushi & a Granddaughter's Hope" - Remembering how my grandmothers died, and what their deaths meant about how they lived.
• "The In-Between" - A look at Japanese and English words, and how the crossover of meaning defines who I am today.​