After a little hiatus where I did a little more (creatively, that is) than post my daily outfits on TikTok, which was quite fun actually, I’m finally getting back to business and back into writing. Honestly, I needed a break, and now that my creative coffers are full again, I’m thrilled to share this new book that I started maybe three(?) years ago as a serial for the short-lived Kindle Vella. After reworking it a bit, I’m proud to get this baby out there. Black and Blue Ivy is a YA gothic story about a girl who travels from the tough streets of Kensington, Philadelphia, to a home for wayward girls, then eventually lands in Providence House, the sprawling estate of a wealthy family in Philadelphia’s Main Line. If you know anything about gothic novels–especially the V.C. Andrews ones, which were an inspiration for this book–then you’ll know that’s when the trouble for our main character really begins. 

There are religious themes in this story, which reflect–and challenge–my own Catholicism. I was thrilled to see the book reach #1 New Release in Teen and Young Adult Christian Social Fiction. I didn’t even know there was such a category, but I’ll take it. Please note, there is nothing preachy or proselytizing about this work, so atheists and other (fill in the blank) are welcome to partake. If there is a religious theme, it has more to do with examining and weeding out hypocrisy than anything else. I strongly believe writers should explore ideas that are important to them. That what makes a voice unique and interesting.

There is a disturbing trend in publishing today where it’s all about hitting the right “tropes.” If I’m not mistaken, “trope” used to be considered a negative term, a cliché, but it seems to have evolved to be synonymous with conventions, which is the term I prefer. I used plenty of gothic conventions in Black and Blue Ivy: the Jane Eyre orphanage and awful neglect, the tony mansion hiding diabolical secrets, the creepy housekeeper, the list goes on. My homages to V.C. Andrews, including a metaphor of powder sugar on doughnuts, abound. There’s also an attic or two. But this story is my own, meaning it comes from my own twisted (at times) heart. I’ve certainly given it my own spin, and with so many changes happening in publishing: the seemingly almost daily AI scandals, the bizarre AI witch hunts on Threads, the fact that “tropes” seem to be telling the stories, not the writer/creator, and the head scratching that goes along with why the hell is this book popular–yes, Romantasy I’m looking at you! Well, you get the picture. 

I needed the break, and I’m excited to be creating again. I’m heading over to my studio this morning to record my first YouTube video in about six months. It’s good, no, it’s great to be back! 

*Watch my first video in six months: