FAQ

Consistently, and with the intention of creating stories, since September of 2022. I tried writing a few books as a kid, but I think I recognized the lack of depth? I wasn’t patient, wasn’t consistent, and didn’t have the lived experience to pour what I so often experienced in movies or other books onto the pages. I journaled, sure, but nothing like this.

I have a bachelor’s degree in Biology focused in general Ecology and Conservation, and I double minored in Chemistry and Environmental Studies. The dream was, and still is, being a wildlife biologist. I love the environment and nature. That said, I did not go to school to be a writer. And while I really enjoy my job, writing and authorship have turned into this wonderful new adventure! It’s never too late to pick something back up, have new dreams, make new goals, or just give something a shot! I never thought I’d circle back to trying to write books—now I’m a self-published author.

Honestly, it was sort of random. I had gotten back into reading in 2021, and after being busy with sports, the sciences, and thinking more technically, it reignited the creative parts of me. It was December 14th, 2021 that I developed the initial characters and concepts on a whim. I wrote it down knowing it was cool, but not feeling inspired further, I didn’t do anything with it. Eight months later I was driving home from work, heard the song Rainer by RL Grime, and the characters/scene had a life of its own. That scene ended up being the last in ZB1. So, I built ZB1 “backwards” and ZB2 forwards from there.

This is always a fun one … Often, readers, friends, or family assume typing “The End” means the book can be in your hands soon after. This is not the case. How long it takes to write a book and how long it takes to publish a book are two different questions. The answer to how long it takes to write a book is totally dependent on each writer, what their story is, and the time they have to dedicate to writing it. It could take a few months if you have nothing else to do, but many independently published authors like myself have full-time jobs, pushing the drafting process up to 1+ year(s). Some works, depending on the genre and complexity, have taken decades. While this might sound scrupulous to some, I assure you that it isn’t. Writers enjoy the process. We love putting what our minds see or what we feel onto the page sentence by sentence. Can it be frustrating? Yes. Can it be healing? Yes. Can it take time? Yes. Can it feel defeating? Yes. Can it feel freeing? Yes. It is all of those things, and that is part of why we write, and it all makes completing a manuscript that much sweeter.

See “How long does it take you to publish a book?” for a continued response.

See “The Zones Series Writing Timeline in a Nutshell” for a more direct answer.

Completing a draft or having a complete manuscript is different than having a book prepared to publish, or having a polished manuscript. Writing the book is regarded as the “Drafting” phase, but for authors to publish, that completed manuscript needs to be cleaned up ... a lot. This is regarded as the “Editing” phase; a part of the process that requires a variety of efforts, and not just by the authors themselves. Works intended to be published should go through “Developmental”=plot and character, “Line”=structure/flow, and “Copy”=grammar/punctuation edits. Alpha and Beta readers (selected people that read raw, or early-edit versions of a manuscript to provide feedback to the author) and/or a third-party contracted Editor should assist with the developmental stage. If the author is not best suited to perform the line and copy edit, a third-party contracted Editor should assist with the line and copy stage as well. Then it’s onto “Formatting”, where the author or another third-party contracted formatter makes the manuscript look like the pages of a book. Finally, the now polished manuscript moves into what I like to call “Publication Prep”. Although, some of the “prep” should start in the editing phase …

The Editing phase is largely dependent on the same factors as the drafting phase, or the time it takes to write the book, PLUS the resources available to the author; a.k.a, money. Alpha’s and Beta’s shouldn’t cost anything, but Editor(s), a cover designer, copyrights, proof copies, a formatter … that all costs money. There are plenty of ways for authors to work within their own budgets, and on their own timelines, but again, it could take less than a year if you have ‘nothing’ to do and resources at your disposal. If you have a full-time job and are self-funding, years are more likely.

See The Zones Series Writing Timeline in a Nutshell for a more direct answer.

ZB1: Lost in the Hills

Started in September 2022. Took unexpected breaks for large chunks of 2023 due to writer’s block, familial loss, moving, and job changes. Picked it back up with a fervor in 2024, and had a complete manuscript in August of that year. It took an additional year and three months to go through everything after the Drafting phase. I published Lost in the Hills December 14th, 2025.

ZB2: Remembered in the Ruins

For a few short windows in 2023, I was able to write. I realized at this time it would be beneficial to start the second book, given how I was structuring the plot. However, I was still struggling to write that year. Similar to ZB1, I picked up writing this series with tunnel vision in 2024, and tandem wrote Parts 1 & 2 of ZB2 alongside ZB1. I drafted Part 3 of the second book on and off in early 2025 while editing Lost in the Hills, and ultimately completed the Remembered in the Ruins manuscript in August of that year. The cover reveal, and release date are scheduled for Summer of 2026.

ZB3: Title Announcement and Release Date Pending

When I completed Publication Prep for ZB1, and handed the completed ZB2 manuscript off to my Editor in November of 2025 after initial edits and feedback from Alpha and Beta readers, I utilized part of my Thanksgiving break by writing the Prologue of ZB3. There was still a ton of marketing to do for the release of Lost in the Hills, so I took a little break from drafting … but when a story screams in your mind to be told, you hit the keys. From mid-December of 2025 to February of 2026, I wrote Part 1 of ZB3. It is currently with Alpha Readers. I should have a completed manuscript by the end of 2026, but we shall see!

ZB4: Beginning, middle, and end established

Requires more planning and plotting.

ZB5: Brainstorming stage

Beginning and end established.

Yes!

Lost in the Hills was my debut, so down the line the Zones Series will be some of my earliest publications! I don’t know if they will all pan out, but I have ideas for a standalone dystopian/scifi, a fantasy duology, three standalone thrillers, and a standalone contemporary fiction … Zones will also have a standalone prequel, but the series in general has all of my attention right now. I love writing it, and couldn’t imagine working on something else at present.

That’s way too hard to say. A lot of stuff from high school stuck with me: Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies, The Great Gatsby … I was and am a Hunger Games fan, Twilight was a major supernatural at the time too. I’ve also enjoyed stuff like Throne of Glass and Fourth Wing ... Who could forget the work of James Baldwin and bell hooks? Silent Spring by Rachel Carson … Plus I can’t remember everything I’ve read. Lol.

Short Answer: Absolutely not. F*** that sh**.

Long Answer (if you’ll oblige): Absolutely not, and you shouldn’t either. In all of my contracts I insist on anti-AI clauses and will not sign anything without them. When you use AI, you are complicit in the destruction of our environment and the unregulated siphoning of fresh water (for people like yourself and local ecosystems alike) during a time when the UN has declared Global Water Bankruptcy. You are also acting in direct opposition to the “support” you’re giving authors like myself, because language learning models and genAI stole tens of thousands of published works through pirated sites like LibGen, and those who approved that know it was wrong. And that’s not me saying that assumptively, there are leaked communications of them choosing to do it the wrong way.

Not to mention stolen art—various mediums and graphic designs alike—and the time it took people dedicating themselves to a craft they loved for years, and the blood, sweat, and tears they put into their pieces, could never be replicated by a soulless slop machine mashup. The cold, mediocre prompt results couldn’t begin to communicate the human experience, which requires living with a beating heart, and participating in the process of creation and expression. Studies are beginning to show severe cognitive decline with its use, and if you care at all about protecting kids, women, or anyone from sexual misconduct, then you should also know that most models don’t do anything to combat digital abuse … I could go on, but I think you see the point. As a wildlife biologist, author, and woman, I cannot in good conscious support technology such as this. It is harmful to people, and I would be cheating myself and my readers of the human-only experience of creation and process.

What I will also say is that I am a logical person; there are some reasonable use cases for it, especially in medicine i.e. protein denaturation simulations; however, modeling and pattern recognition software have existed for quite some time without the same technology being used now with ai. Nevertheless, it should never be in the arts, and nothing is significant enough to justify allowing the above to continue. Those pushing ai are completely disconnected and do not have enough respect for the world we share or the human lives they are impacting. They are not responsible enough to entrust this very troubling technological advancement to. And hello!? All the scifi movies that have already told us why this is a bad idea????? PASS.

Sidenote: The arts are necessary. When you experience loss, or frustration, or feelings of grandeur, someone has put that on paper. Someone has used colors, or texture, or raw materials, or instruments, or words, and they have managed to transfer what was in their own body and put it somewhere that could be perceived by others so that other people would know they were not alone. It’s not a sector of life that is meant to be spammed or wrung dry for the sake of making money. And that is not to say people should not be compensated for their hard work, they absolutely should be. I would just say that money for most artists is used to fund their next project. It’s not about this insane surplus leading to unimaginable wealth. Art is not a menial, unserious sidequest. We need it to connect. We need it to communicate. We need it to express. Please, support artists. And if you’re using AI, please consider stopping. It is not harmless, and it is okay to be bad at something until you apply yourself enough to be good at it ... that’s normal.