Since 2002, I Love to Write Day has existed to bring people together over the joy of writing, and to encourage people to take the time on this special day to write anything they want.

I’ve been writing for ages, with my first serious attempts at writing stories at age eight, then full-length plays at age twelve, then a musical at age 22, my graduate thesis at age 30, and my first published novel at 41. It’s been a long and winding road, and sometimes I was so scared I’d never get where I am today. But here I am!

And I couldn’t have gotten this far without a love of writing. The thing is, I don’t always love to write–sometimes the process makes me miserable and I come close to hating it. But when I get into my state of writerly nirvana, where the words flow so easily they seem to write themselves, I feel an incredible sense of bliss and excitement. I’m in tune with my characters and the plot; I don’t care what anyone else thinks; I’m writing for me. This kind of moment produces one of the greatest highs I’ve ever experienced as a creative person. It’s the reason I keep going even though things get very, very tough for me.

I could talk about writing books and plays today, but I actually want to talk about my website here, where I blog and write reviews.

Friends, I love blogging. It’s kind of like a journal for me, where I’m writing about things I care about and sharing my thoughts and emotions. The act of writing it out is cathartic, but I also know I’m writing for an audience, so I hope my work is somehow connecting with readers out there and helping you (and entertaining you!) in some way.

As a professional author, we’ve been told time and again that we need to put ourselves out there on social media and the web and constantly self-promote. We need to have an author platform, too, which isn’t the same thing as being out there on social media, but it still involves visibility and reputation.

I am a member of many social media sites, but being the forty-something year old that I am, my main ones are Facebook and Threads. It used to be Twitter (X) but I haven’t logged on in months and that place kind of became a cesspool. Facebook connects me to family, old friends, and friends from abroad, as well as authors I admire. Threads has a sizeable amount of writers and book lovers there, too, so I hop on there quite a bit.

But the thing about social media, is we are all beholden to the overlords. Our content isn’t 100% our own. I’ve read time and again the only safe space that you can make your own is your website and newsletter.

My newsletter kind of acts like a journal a little, too, and I always have a section chronicling what went up on the blog for the month. I don’t have a lot of subscribers, and since transferring to WordPress my open rate is crap, so I like to focus on this website as my official home on the web. It’s the biggest glimpse of my personality you can get, short of being my friend in-person.

I love sharing posts about my books-in-progress with you; the media and music and real-life places that inspire them; the dorky things I collect; my memories and experiences from Japan; dealing with bipolar disorder; indulging hobbies like cosplay and anime conventions; and of course, reviewing anime, manga, and comics.

The manga and comics content in this blog is going to get a little more exciting–not only do I work with a rep for Tokyopop, but now I have a connection to Boom! Studios, where I will have opportunities to review forthcoming works along with the manga I already cover. I think this will help my website appeal to more readers who happen to share my interests. I love comics and manga (someday I want to create my own), so this is very much an aspect of who I am and what I like to read.

I used to publish blogs on a regular schedule — every Monday and Wednesday–but since transferring from Wix to WordPress, I now sort of write whenever I feel like it. I do not let too much time pass between posts because I know from experience how much that hurts SEO. Some times I write every three or four days. Sometimes when I feel like I want to write all the time, I’ll do multiple posts in a single day. That may or may not overwhelm readers, but if I feel like writing, I become a machine and pump stuff out.

This is the place where if you want to know about what I read, what I write, what I like, and what I do, you can read all about it here. I hope to connect to you through my writing and make you feel things, entertain you, and offer you hope or help in some way. I especially would love it if my writing made you feel not alone.

In the meantime, take a moment out of your day today to write something. 😊