Up until around 2017, i had been quite consistent in putting out books. Novels, shorts, individual stories etc. I should have known it was all going too well, as i started to feel a bit of burn out and have a few mental heath issues.

Figuring i’d just take a few weeks off, then get back to it, i downed tools and did some work on getting myself well. I had no idea it would take until july of 2025 to be in the position to put out a new book. in hindsight, i had gone beyond burnout, and was starting to resent writing. ideas dried up, and there were other issues in my life away from the page that meant i had to go through a full reboot of sorts, which brings us to today, where, at the time of writing, we are less than 2 months away from the release of my first full length Fiction novel since then, titled, THE SINNER.

The weird thing about this book, is that i actually started writing it way back in 2016, when it was tentitively titled THE WITCH, and, aside from the two protagonists (boy & girl twins) was completely different. I had chipped away at it during that burn out phase, never quite able to muster up the enthusiasm to push on. In early 2017, i scrapped the concept (initially a creepy supernatural story) and morphed it into something else, the story that would become THE SINNER.

What would become THE SINNER, started out life as THE WITCH

Grounded more in reality and telling the story of twins, Dan and Rebecca who learn the father they never knew is a notorious murderer and cult leader awaiting execution on death row, couldn’t be more different from the concept of THE WITCH. Even so, i pushed on and got a draft more or less finished by mid 2017. it sat there untouched until 2019 when i picked it up again and had another surge, finishing the story and doing a quick partial edit. The book was complete but not finished until 2020, when again, i tried to get it finished, the book at this point feeling like a bit of a weight around my neck. I was pretty content with where it was, but with motivation and mental health both in a pretty poor place, it was shelved again.

Fast forward to 2025, and things are in a much better place. i feel good, and have banished a lot of that negativity from my life. i also got this book finished, doing what was, essentially a full rewrite from page one, leading us here, to the finished product, just weeks away from release.

Aware how long i’ve been away, i would be lying if i said i wasn’t nervous about the release. I’ve been out of the game for a few years now, and despite starting this writing journey back in 2012, i feel like a newbie again. I hope the book does well. i like the story and think people who enjoy my writing will get a kick out of it too.

a tough few years