If you’ve been here with me for a while, then you already know that 2025 has been the worst writing year of my entire career. I’ve dropped multiple manuscripts, and have been second-guessing myself even with the manuscript that I have finished. Nothing has been easy this year, and I’ve been trying to figure out why it has suddenly gotten so hard. What the hell has happened in 2025?

Then, I turned 41 years old on September 5th. Ironically, I’d been editing my upcoming book, Left of the Slash the day before. I’d gotten to a specific scene and wondered it was bothering me so much. On my birthday, I figured it out. For reasons I still haven’t figured out, I forgot how to write unforgettably badass MMCs. Yes, I’ve written great guys who are passionate and in tune with their emotions. But there have been no badasses since before I was even writing BDSM. I used to build my stories around these characters, like Solomon King from Madman. He’s unbelievable, but Madman didn’t sell well. It’s like it was before its time. If I published a Solomon today, he would be huge. That’s when it hit me. This is what I’ve been missing. This is why writing just hasn’t been as fun lately. I stopped creating characters that I love, in exchange for ones I thought my BDSM readers would enjoy. I knew how much readers loved Christian Grey and Zade Meadows. Memorable characters make books, and I stopped trying to make my own. It toned down my passion and diluted my books, especially the ones I’ve written this year. Luckily, I realized it before publishing this year. Now, I have tons of work to do. Left of the Slash drops on November 3rd, and I have SO MUCH revising to do.

No time to keep talking. Wish me luck. Time to fix what has been broken for far too long 👑