Who Needs Role Models?

Winona Willow is the character readers of Digital Dryad loved to hate. She’s arrogant, she’s wrong about almost everything, and she’s the reason I wrote The Honey Tree. Here’s why the unlikeable girl deserved her own story—and why I don’t write role models.

A month after my father died, I was setting up a garage sale in his driveway when the girl who used to chase me into my house stopped to say how good it was to see me.

I caved and re-labeled my novel middle grade, then resented every minute of it. Middle grade gets heard as simple, and simple gets heard as not worth an adult’s time. Here’s why that’s wrong, who the categories actually serve, and what I’d rather have instead.

Ever asked a simple grammar question online—only to get buried in bad takes and unearned confidence? In this writing-focused rant, I dissect a Reddit thread about em-dashes in dialog and the tidal wave of “well, actually…” comments that followed. It’s a love letter to clarity, CMOS, and the bliss of drafting in solitude.

What if your favorite hero would be a total jerk in real life? In this post, I talk about why flawed, messy, and imperfect characters matter—and why perfectionism isn’t just unrealistic, it’s paralyzing. From spilled coffee to unfinished novels, this is a love letter to the glorious disaster of being human (and a sneak peek at my latest book, Silverlock – The Forging).

We’ve all been told to be proactive—at work, with our health, in life. But what happens when the systems we rely on punish that effort or make it harder to care for ourselves in the moment? In this personal reflection, I explore the gap between the idea of proactivity and the lived reality of trying to plan ahead in a world that doesn’t always reward it. Maybe the answer isn’t more hustle—but more kindness.

Tired of fantasy stories that long for a golden past where witches were burned and power wore a crown? In this essay, I argue that magic hasn’t vanished—it’s evolved. From fungal networks to fiber optics, the Fae didn’t disappear. They just upgraded. Let’s stop mourning the myths of yesterday and start building the enchantment of tomorrow.

Once upon a time, you could buy an appliance that just… worked. These days, it wants your WiFi password and a subscription fee. In this sarcastic breakdown of modern consumer tech, we’ll unpack how companies design for data collection, not for you. Spoiler: your smart fork has trust issues.

I believe there is a middle ground when it comes to AI. It is possible to see the value it can provide while also being aware of the harms it promotes, such as devaluing human input and the theft that many AI companies engaged in to build their models. I believe we should advocate for ethical use of AI models and seek to provide fair compensation to those who have been harmed by it.

Happy Samhain everyone! And Day of the Dead. And Diwali. All the fall holidays! Plus some politics and dont forget to change your clocks on Saturday.