Fun, Exciting Changes are Coming!!

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Guys, I’m making some changes. And I think you’re really gonna like it.

This year has been really transformative for me in an unexpected way. For a long while, I’ve felt like I was wandering through a murky bog with a half-lit lantern, checking over my shoulder going, “Man, I hope I stumble into a writing career soon.” Then 2026 comes along, and lightbulbs pinged above my head at an incredible rate. Things that I had previously categorized as “I would do this, if I weren’t so scared” were now being thrown into the category of “I literally have no reason not to try this”.

FUN CHANGE #1 I HAVE A NEW PEN NAME

I’ve mentioned before that I’m interested in pursuing a Hybrid Author career, with both traditionally published books and indie titles. (Traditional meaning a big publisher puts my book on a Barnes and Noble shelf, and Indie meaning I list it on Amazon myself). One problem is that I’m all over when it comes to writing. Age ranges, genres, moods – I like to write it all! But I sat down and separated some 30+ book ideas into two categories: Mystery Thrillers and Funny Books. And surprise, surprise, the categories were even TO THE NUMBER. I’m exactly half spooky murder conspiracies and half weird comedy adventures. But that gave me a clear direction on what to do next!

I’ll continue to query my mystery thrillers under “Val Manwill” but regularly put out funny books under my new pen name…

K, you ready, for the reveal??

“Val Stowaway”

Ta-da!

FUN CHANGE #2 I’M STARTING A BUTTLOAD OF NEW SOCIAL MEDIA

Yeah, you’re right. I’ve already put a book on Amazon under Val Manwill. And that’s true. But to be honest with you, I never tried with that book. You know? I hired an artist to illustrate a cover that I really loved but beyond that I never marketed it or even spoke up about it.

SOOOOOOOOOOOO in order to give the indie part of my career a voice, I’m making videos, baby!

For short form, I have TIK TOK (subscribe here) and INSTAGRAM (subscribe here)

For longer form, I have a new YouTube channel, and a mini documentary about my author journey is coming out later this month! (subscribe here)

FUN CHANGE #3 I NOW HAVE A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER SO YOU CAN FOLLOW ALONG!

Everyone who joins my newsletter gets *a special incentive*. So sign up below, get the *special incentive*, and stay up to date on blog posts, videos and more!

MARCH ’26 – Kids Say the Darndest

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BLIPPI: Hey! You want to go on an adventure? … … … Awesome! Let’s go!

CASEY: How does Blippi have such good hearing? He can hear all the kids through the TV.

ANDIE: Do you hear that smell?

ME: Jack, can you carry your dirty clothes up the stairs?

JACK: No. I’m not an octopus.

CASEY: Have you ever noticed that Skittles and MnMs are so similar? They must be best friends.

Andie calls Cinnamon Toast “silly toast”. And I’m thinking they should remarket the entire brand as Silly Toast.

JACK: Mom, I’m a vampire! I’m going to drink your blood! *pretends to bite me* Ooh, tastes like Mountain Dew.

CASEY: Mom, why are you laying down?

MOM: I have a really bad migraine, Honey.

CASEY: Well, I got a worse news… I have the hiccups.

When we told Andie she couldn’t watch The Nightmare Before Christmas, she flopped onto the floor and wailed out:

ANDIE: I just want my little, cute, spooky show!

I told Jack about a time a coworker watched me doodle over my shoulder and asked me about it. And it was this big creative involved thing and I felt all embarrassed to tell them.

JACK: Mom, you should have told them, “None of your boogers”.

I’m adopting this phrase immediately haha.

Andie has this stuffed dragon that she’s in love with. However, if you ask her, it is NOT a dragon. It’s a flying crocodile (“crock-a-dyger).

How My Week-Long Challenges Went

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Welp. That didn’t go at all as expected. Womp womp.

Alright, so last time you heard from me, I had a pretty “straightforward” plan. Week One – post on social media. Week Two – get dressed up. Week Three – potty train my daughter. Week Four – write like Stephen King challenge.

Due to some scheduling stuff, I suddenly had a very open week that first week of January. And I was like…

Hear me out.

What if I switched things around so I could potty train my daughter that first lighter week instead? Push everything else back. 

So I did. And that went fine.

Obviously, it’s a loooooong process but I got her successfully used to potty time, which is great. 

The next week was going to be posting on social. And the week after that, “posting on social media “getting gorgeous every day”. But two days before, I was like…

Hear me out.

Why would I post on social media and THEN get gorgeous? Wouldn’t it be better to be all gorgeous for social media?? Why not combine those goals into one single week?

So I combined them. And that went fine.

The dressing up was meh. I was under the impression that I would be excited to dress up in January because it’s finally cold enough in Arizona to wear cute fall clothes. But what really happened was the cold just made me want to wear cozy leggings and wrap myself in a hoodie. 

Also, I switch out my clothes every month, and the January selection was a bit uninspired. The collection included a stained jumper with a broken snap, the striped shirt that made me look rolly polly in my 100 pages photo, and a shirt that I’ve had for LITERALLY 20 YEARS. So I just really didn’t feel like dressing up, and I didn’t. I’m sorry, okay.

But the social media really surprised me.

What I found out was… I genuinely enjoyed it. The parts I had been worried about (like editing videos for example), I actually had so much fun doing! And it made me realize something that *should* have been obvious but hadn’t… That I can make and post videos just for myself. For fun. Not for platform building or marketing or trying to entertain anyone else. I could do it because it’s a fun time and that’s it. 

So cool news, I’m actually going to regularly start making videos now. But not NOW now. Like this summer now. I’m trying to get a book ready to query so I’m really swamped with edits atm. But you know… Coming this June or July. But if you want, here’s one of the videos I made during my week challenge. (It’s me dyeing my hair purple lol.)

So the last challenge was to do this Stephen King thing, where I write 2k words and then immediately edit them.

The night before, I was lying in bed wondering… Does he really do his edits like that? And I Googled Stephen King’s editing process.

AND NO. HE DOES NOT.

Why I believed he did this with all my heart is beyond me dude. I don’t even know where that misbelief came from. But Stephen King does not edit his work same day, in fact, he “leaves it in a drawer for six weeks” so he can look at it with fresh eyes. Gash dude. So I was like…

Hear me out again.

Why don’t I do the 2k writing, but instead of immediately editing the fresh stuff, I work on this novel that I’m trying to query.

So I did that. And I’m glad I did that.

Moral of the story?? Be flexible with the goals you set, I guess. And/or actually think through your goals so you don’t have to change every single one of them the night before.