The format is simple. We will share a snippet of what we’ve been up to over the past fortnight, whether that’s writing or personal life focussed, with any luck, we’ll have a nice balanced mix of the two! And then to round it off, we will feature an author in our spotlight section.

So, let’s get into it!

Writing Diaries

Writing wise, we are so close to the end of the first draft of Book 5! This is the first book in our second series - to be named currently. It’s been a slower process this time around, due to a multitude of reasons:

1. Our priority before was completing the full set of books for The Hidden Series. We thought with a whole series it would be great for marketing, events and also to boost our confidence in knowing we could do it.

2. The first half of this year has been very booked and busy for us. We’ve been on holidays, Jess celebrated her 1 year wedding anniversary, Ria’s son turned 4, Jess arranged two hen dos - which Ria enjoyed the benefits of - and we attended the subsequent wedding. We also work full time, so unfortunately writing has taken a backseat at times more than we would like.

Going into the summer, we are prioritising completing this first draft so we can get stuck into the edit. We’re absolutely loving the dynamic of our leading couple and can’t wait to see how their story comes to an end.

Life Diaries

This has been the fortnight of socialising. This week, we headed to the The O2 and watched Lily Allen perform West End Girl in it’s entirety. We had seen some controversy in the press about how there was no audience interaction, no support act and the set was short just being her latest album, however we couldn’t disagree with the negativity more. We LOVED it. The visuals, the emotion and the storytelling was a winner in our book - we’re so glad we managed to bag tickets to the sold out show.

The next day, Jess had a work social whereby an inflatable assault course was put up in the carpark and they battled out in teams, speed-running the course in 30C heat followed by drinks to unwind.

On Friday, Jess went to Wembley to see My Chemical Romance and truly lived out her emo girl dream. The theatrics were next level and hearing so many iconic songs live was surprisingly emotional at times - Famous Last Words, I’m looking at you! Ria was also in London on Friday but for her Summer Social.

The day began with volunteering at Hackney Food Bank, helping to purchase food items from the local Tesco before an afternoon of leafleting the streets in the blazing sunshine. The evening followed on with drinks and nibbles at a local bar. The vibes were high, the music was great however the evening was due to take a turn.

A fire started on the track at Stratford which prevented either of us getting back to Essex. Ria and her friend ended up staying at another friend from work’s in the City and Jess and her husband, Harry, undertook a mammoth trek home, walking through their door at 5am after darting all over the place.

Author Spotlight

Our first spotlight - so exciting!!

This week’s author is Bruce Martin. A YA urban gothic fantasy author. His series, The Dream Walker series is inspired by Alice in Wonderland but way way darker with vampires, werewolves, mythology and magic.

You can follow Bruce and find out more on his books on @brucemartin.author on Instagram and TikTok.

I’ve always been the kind of girl who puts a soundtrack to her life. Whether it was skipping down the road listening to She’s So Lovely and convincing myself I was living in my own Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. Or staring out of the car window on long-distance drives with my parents, pretending I was in a tragic music video while Goodbye My Lover played. I even remember, as a child, wishing I could one day understand the pain of being cheated on just so I could properly relate to White Horse by Taylor Swift (which I now realise is slightly unhinged…). Music has always been deeply emotive for me which I’m sure is the same for most people and because of that, creating the perfect soundtrack to accompany our books felt very exciting and important.

In fact, music shaped so many of the directions we took with the stories. There were certain songs we knew, without a doubt, had to feature. Songs Ria and I would scream at each other, feeling all of the pain and emotion that our characters would be feeling in the moments that the songs represented. Tracks like this became the first additions to our playlists and helped to set the tone for everything that followed.

I’ll be diving into the playlists for each book in the Hidden Series. If you haven’t read the series yet, consider this your spoiler warning, there’s some context needed and some crucial details may be revealed.

Hidden Gem Playlist:

Kicks - Lauren Aquilina

I Can See You (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift

Shameless - Camila Cabello

Bed Chem - Sabrina Carpenter

Lose Control - Teddy Swims

Crazy In Love - Remix - Beyonce

Partition - Beyonce

Guess - Charli xcx

Wild Thoughts - DJ Khaled, Rihanna, Bryson Tiller

hate to be lame - Lizzy McAlpine, FINNEAS

Apologize - Timbaland, One Republic

my tears ricochet - Taylor Swift

Bruises - Lewis Capaldi

Hearts Don’t Break Around Here - Ed Sheeran

Kicking off the playlist (quite literally) with Kicks by Lauren Aquilina felt like the perfect place to start. Lauren is one of the smaller artists on our playlists, with around 188k monthly listeners, but ever since I first discovered her, I’ve felt that her songs paint such vivid pictures, practically shouting the narrative. Her entire album Isn’t It Strange? is so story driven and I knew at least one of her songs needed to feature. Kicks is the perfect song for Lilah and Zane, representing both their childhood relationship and the teasing dynamic between them when Lilah first becomes Zane’s personal assistant.

This is followed by I Can See You by Taylor Swift, which genuinely feels like it was written for this duo, The lyrics capture the will-they-won’t-they tension between Lilah and Zane perfectly. “I can see you in your suit and necktie. Passed me a note saying “Meet me tonight””...I mean, hello? Does that not just scream Zane Moreno?!

Then we move into the slightly saucier tracks. If you’ve read Hidden Gem, there will be no surprises when it comes to imagining when Partition or Guess would be playing. Both songs bring a different vibe but capture the passion and fun that define the couple from the middle of the book onwards.

Like with all of our playlists the songs turn sadder and more apologetic towards the end. The masochist that I am, these are the songs that I love to pick. The tracks chosen for Hidden Gem speak for themselves with Bruises and my tears ricochet capturing the emotion from both parties during their time apart before the playlist (and book) is tied together perfectly by Hearts Don’t Break Around Here, when the pair rekindle.

Hidden Agenda Playlist:

Accidentally in Love - New Found Glory

Guilty Pleasure - Chappell Roan

bad idea - Ariana Grande

Stop The World I Wanna Get Off With You - Arctic Monkeys

Please Please Please - Sabrina Carpenter

Dangerous Hands - Austin Giorgio

Bad for Business - Sabrina Carpenter

Flawless - The Neighbourhood

Come Back...Be Here (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift

PILLOWTALK - ZAYN

Take a Bow - Leona Lewis

vampire - Olivia Rodrigo

Ghost Town - Benson Boone

Normal Thing - Gracie Abrams

What A Time - Julia Michaels, Niall Horan

Daylight - Taylor Swift

And of course, we had to kick off the playlist for Hidden Agenda with a cover of Accidentally In Love, which just so happens to be the name of the film Verity and Axel are starring in. What a coincidence. 😉 We felt this song was the perfect theme tune for the rom-com, so it had to be included. It fits not only the vibe of the film but also how Verity and Axel find themselves falling, quite literally, accidentally in love!

Every playlist needs at least a few sexy songs and Stop The World I Wanna Get Off With You brings that gritty, detached yet extremely lustful energy that captures their enemies-with-benefits yet leaning close to something more dynamic that is shown in the second third of the book, perfectly. We especially imagined this track playing during that particular bathroom scene at the industry party (if you know, you know). Dangerous Hands follows close behind, showing Axel’s inner conflict when it comes to Verity, he’s desperate to resist her but physically can’t, he’s inexplicably drawn to her and craves her touch.

With most of our books, there’s usually one song that feels like it defines the story. For Axel and Verity, their book seemed to be defined by their break up. Vampire was, in our opinion, the perfect Axel song. Portraying the innocence and naivety of Verity and how he’d used her for his own gain, to further his career in the industry. Lyrics like “bloodsucker, fame-fucker” and ‘‘cause girls your age know better” made it impossible not to picture Verity cry-singing this alone in her room after their gut-wrenching breakup. And yes, Ria and I may have performed this a fair few times at karaoke, feeling all of the emotions that our character did.

Hidden Talent Playlist:

You’re Losing Me (From The Vault)- Taylor Swift

1 step forward, 3 steps back - Olivia Rodrigo

Sex - The 1975

Heartbreak Girl - 5 Seconds of Summer

Why Don’t You Love Me - 5 Seconds of Summer

goodnight n go - Ariana Grande

Magnet - Picture This

Being Your Friend - Katherine Li

he never will - Alexander Stewart

dandelion - Ariana Grande

Begin Again (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift

Fools - Lauren Aquilina

Please Don’t Say You Love Me - Gabrielle Aplin

Ghost of You - 5 Seconds of Summer

Kill My Time - 5 Seconds of Summer

Crystal Clear - Hayley Williams

imperfect for you - Ariana Grande

Ahh Hidden Talent, this playlist was an absolute joy to put together and a pain in the bum to narrow down, so much so that we made a second playlist with the songs that we think represent The Velvet Echoes’ setlist for their first tour. This story practically begged for a soundtrack. Theo is our resident yearning boy and it just so happens that men who yearn are mine and Ria’s favourite music genre. But before we get into the Theo-centric songs, we need to talk about You’re Losing Me and 1 step forward, 3 steps back. These songs so clearly belong to Amelia’s relationship with Josh and honestly it breaks my heart thinking about her being with that man.

Thankfully, we don’t have too much time to feel upset over this when Sex starts playing, a perfect internal monologue for Theo, “she’s got a boyfriend anyway”...okay, like that’s going to stop you, mate. 😉 Heartbreak Girl was my first pick for the playlist. I’ve loved this song since it first came out and when I was fourteen I found myself wishing that one day a man would feel that way about me. In the end, creating a character who felt that way about another fictional character feels like a pretty good compromise.

There is always a pivotal scene that we cannot wait to write when we start a new book. For Hidden Talent, this was Theo’s confession, as I said - we love a man that yearns! We knew that we had to find the right song to encapsulate this part, after hours of trawling through Spotify, we came across he never will. If there is one song that you listen to from the playlist, let it be this one. It’s the perfect Theo x Amelia x Josh song and the bridge is almost exactly how we imagine Theo confessing his feelings to Amelia in the bar in Milan.

This playlist did turn out to be pretty Ariana Grande and 5 Seconds of Summer heavy. We envisioned the TVE boys having a very similar sound to the 5SOS boys and we didn’t feel any of Ariana’s songs were cuttable. Unlike any of our other playlists we chose our final song imperfect for you very early on. I was sold as soon as I heard the lyrics “my boy come take my hand, throw your guitar and your clothes in the backseat” of course the mention of Theo’s instrument secured this song a place on the final soundtrack. As well as the fact Amelia is extremely harsh on herself and wouldn’t believe herself to be perfect for anybody but she is imperfectly perfect for Theo.

Hidden Target Playlist:

Close To You - Gracie Abrams

so american - Olivia Rodrigo

Temporary Fix - One Direction

Touch It - Ariana Grande

Change Your Ticket - One Direction

Nevada - Picture This

Car’s Outside - James Arthur

The First Time - Damiano David

Slut! - Taylor Swift

Who Is She? - I Monster

Say Something - A Great Big World, Christina Aguilera

i wish i hated you - Ariana Grande

Need You Now - Lady A

blame’s on me - Alexander Stewart

invisible string - Taylor Swift

By Book Four, it’s safe to say we were playlist experts. This is a no-skip soundtrack and if I do say so myself it tells the story perfectly. There are major spoilers in this section, so if you’ve somehow made it this far without reading the books, I strongly suggest clicking away now.

Naturally, the start of this playlist is very bubbly, carefree and exciting, just how Scarlett feels as she’s swept up in the whirlwind that is the situationship with Ezra Reed. And wow, does it make me jealous of a completely made up woman. The giddiness that Scar experiences in the first half of the book is infectious and these tracks give big dancing-around-your-bedroom energy.

Adding Temporary Fix was a no-brainer. Ria and I were writing one very sexy scene where Ezra explains to Scarlett exactly what he’s into in the bedroom over drinks and one of us typed the words ‘temporary fix.’ From that moment, we knew the song needed to be added. As self proclaimed Directioners it’s hard to believe we made it three books without a One Direction song making an appearance but we make up for it in this one with Change Your Ticket following close behind - another song that is lyrically made for this book.

Car’s Outside was on our inspiration playlist before we had even come up with storylines for any of our books, we just knew it was a song with strong emotion that had to be featured somewhere. We didn’t want to shoehorn it into a book where it didn’t fit so the song sat at the sidelines, until we were curating the track list for Hidden Target and we realised it had the yearning and emotional weight of Mr Reed written all over it. Not to mention the narrative of him begging her to come on tour with him.

Now for the most emotional song in the entire series: Say Something. When I tell you I could cry imagining our Scarlett and Ezra to this song. This is the hospital scene. Scarlett lying broken in bed and Ezra saying goodbye - I see this scene so perfectly and it physically hurts. “You’re the one that I love, and I’m saying goodbye.” OUCH. quickly followed with “and anywhere I would have followed you”. Just stomp all over my heart, why don’t you? This song makes me inexplicably angry at Ezra for hurting Scarlett and I need to remind myself that we’re the ones who did this to them.

Luckily for Ezra, we found the perfect apology song to add to the playlist in blame’s on me. And just like Hidden Gem, wrapped the playlist perfectly with invisible string. While this song represents Ezra and Scar, it also ties up the whole series beautifully. We like to think what sets our books apart is the emphasis on the importance of friendship throughout and ending the series with weaving all of our girls’ stories together in a neat little bow felt essential. This song was the perfect way to do just that.

As we continue to write new books and create new characters our Spotify wrapped will no doubt be filled with copious amounts of angry songs, lovey-dovey songs, break-up songs and make-up songs and we wouldn’t have it any other way!

Scarlett Porter is ready for change and excited to embrace a new chapter in her life. When offered a secondment at work, she eagerly jumps at the chance to swap New York for London, ready for all that England has to offer. Though between social events and coffee runs, career success isn’t all that she gains.

Ezra Reed is catapulted into the limelight when he is revealed as the new lead singer of The Velvet Echoes. Overnight he attracts thousands of followers and lovesick girls who throw themselves at him. But as his star rises, a romantic relationship is the last thing on his mind.

A chance encounter finds Scarlett living out every girl’s fantasy after Ezra’s first performance. Despite an unspoken rule to keep things casual, the pair can’t resist the magnetic pull of one another and decide to throw caution to the wind.

As their relationship grows, so does the hate from jealous fans. When the online commentary seeps into the real world, the building pressure on the couple reaches a boiling point. Will their love be strong enough to weather all storms or will the hysteria prove too much to handle?

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Amelia Sani, has always wanted to make it in the music industry, preferring backstage to centre-stage. After her music blog, Under The Radar, helped to catapult an indie band to stardom, she is offered an opportunity to make her dream a reality.

Theo Hart, is one quarter of The Velvet Echoes. An up and coming band on the cusp of their largest headline tour. He is charming, funny and has girls falling at his feet. There’s only one problem: he’s in love with the blogger joining them on their journey around Europe - and she’s taken.

Despite her anticipation for the adventure ahead, Amelia’s volatile, on-and-off relationship hangs by a thread. Exacerbated further with every mile clocked, causing her to contemplate its future.

Amidst sold-out shows, romantic cities and neighbouring hotel rooms, Amelia and Theo’s friendship grows closer. Leading to private moments and complicated feelings. Will life on the road prove to Amelia, she’s worth more than being someone’s second best and can Theo prove that he’s the man to put her first?

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Red Lion Books

We began our writing journey in 2024 and in 2025, we completed our debut romance series, The Hidden Series. Looking back, it’s amazing to see everything we accomplished last year. We published three out of our four books, got our work onto a real life bookstore shelf and even got them listed on major online retailers like Waterstones and Barnes & Noble - something we would have thought impossible when we first started writing.

One of the highlights of the year was our first author event at Red Lion Books in Colchester. Meeting so many like minded readers, selling nearly all our stock, and even signing books felt completely surreal. An experience we will never forget and hopefully the start of many.

We feel incredible lucky to have found such a passion for writing and we’re so excited to see what 2026 will bring. Here are some of the goals we’re hoping to achieve in the next 12 months…

Bookish Goals

Given how amazing last year was, we wanted to set three main goals for the year ahead.

Firstly, now that our first series is complete, we’re excited to get started with brand new characters and explore fresh relationships. Of course, writing will continue into the new year and we can’t wait to see what else is in store. Whether it’s a standalone novel or the start of a new series we’d love to get more of our work out there in the world!

Secondly, the impact of the book event at Red Lion Books has stuck with us since we did it in October and therefore we would love nothing more than to do more of these types of events. We are lucky enough to already have a couple of exciting dates in the diary. We really want to aim for at least three bookish events this year. There’s something so special about seeing people physically pick up your book, read the blurb and decide to give it a try. It’s a completely different feeling from seeing page reads online. It makes it so real to know that people are actually diving into the stories we’ve created.

The third goal is to grow our following. We have the major social media platforms covered, we’re active on Instagram, TikTok, have our own website and most recently Substack, but we believe we can expand our following and reach more authors and readers that share our love and passion for fun romance books! Beyond our online presence we would love to get our books in more physical stores to target the customers who prefer browsing the aisles of a bookstore over online recommendations. A year of marketing, networking and promotion is ahead of us and we can’t wait!

2026 is shaping up to be a pretty exciting year for us as authors and we both have our own personal goals to pursue alongside our writing journey.

Ria’s Goals

When planning goals for 2026, I tried to focus on six key areas: our wedding, the book series, relationships in all forms, my health, travel and style. I find compartmentalising everything into sectors, makes it easier to plan out long term goals with more attainable milestones along the timeline.

After getting engaged in the summer of 2024, this year was full of sourcing vendors, paying deposits and counting down, what felt like, the endless days until our 2027 date. Now, we have landed on 1st January, I can finally say that we are getting married next year, which makes the whole day feel so much more real and I can visual it a whole lot more. With that, we starting this year with very little boxes left to tick off our list. The only items remaining are: cake, groom’s suit, wedding rings and most importantly (😉) my dress! I have three appointments booked next month with my bridesmaids, mum and soon to be mother-in-law, I’m very excited but also absolutely terrified.

Due to this, my next big goal of the year, is to get healthier, both physically and mentally. I hate the expression, ‘I struggle with my weight’ but for as long as I remember, diets and losing weight has also been a new year’s resolution that I’ve achieved to varying levels of success. Going forward, I want to make a conscious effort to move more, find exercise that I enjoy, eat a more balanced diet and most importantly, gain a more positive outlook on myself mentally, as much as I fixate on the number on the scale or the calories consumed, none of that matters if you can’t look in the mirror and be happy with who you are, regardless of your clothing size.

With that, I’m hoping to rediscover my style and the items that I love wearing most. When I was younger I felt so confident in the pieces that made me feel good, then I had a child and turned thirty and I feel like the journey is beginning again, but it’s one that I’m excited to embark on.

Finally, my main focus is to continue to nurture relationships. Life gets busy between working full time, raising a toddler, socialising and cowriting books in my spare time so I want to plan date nights, at home or out, with my partner, making sure no matter how hectic life gets, we always ensure to hit pause and put each other first. I want to spend more time as a family of three, making memories before my son starts school in September and I want to continue to make plans with friends no matter how many weeks in advance that has to be now that we all have partners, mortgages and kids. Whether it’s evenings on the sofa gossiping and putting the world to rights, dancing on tables, many alcoholic drinks deep or attending gigs and theatre shows, I can’t wait to see what unfolds because there’s no better medicine than a girl’s night.

Jessica’s Goals

2025 was a year I’ll never forget. It was filled with moments I had been looking forward to for so long, I got married in April and enjoyed the most incredible honeymoon in the Caribbean. Memories that I will cherish forever. Like any year, it also had it’s challenges but I’m excited to see what this year brings without as much structure.

As we move into 2026, I want to focus on myself a bit more and be intentional about my health and well-being. This is the year I plan to take better care of myself physically and mentally. I want to prioritise going to the gym, eating a more balanced diet and quitting smoking, but without being overly critical about myself in the process - something I have struggled with in the past. My husband and I have plans to start a family and I’d like to be in tip-top shape, mind and body.

This is the year of getting things in order after a very busy year. A less interesting goal and something I probably should have done a while ago is to learn to drive. The amount of money I have spent on trains in my life is criminal… I admittedly put things off until I absolutely need to do them and I think with upcoming plans time is ticking to get my license!

Now the boring stuff is out of the way, some of the more fun goals for the year include hosting at least five dinner parties. I absolutely love having people over and this past year I enjoyed several wine and food-filled evenings with friends at my home that truly filled my heart with joy. There’s something I love about cooking for people and chatting around the table, whether in the garden bathed in sunshine or inside by candlelight. As I’m becoming more mindful about alcohol, hosting feels like a fun alternative to dancing all night in the club. Still just as much fun with all of my favourite people.

This final goal has appeared on my New Year’s resolutions for as long as I can remember: working on my self love. I’ve made progress over the years, but this year I want to focus on it fully. I think some of the problem is I’ve lost my style (if I ever even had it!) and I’d love to discover what clothes are flattering for my body and make me feel confident.

Overall, 2026 feels like a year of balance for me. A year to take care of myself while enjoying and nurturing both my romantic and platonic relationships. I’m excited to see what life has in store. Here’s to a year full of health, happiness and living life to the fullest!

Verity Sloan has always dreamt of landing a blockbuster film role. But when she finally books the lead in Accidentally in Love and is thrust into the spotlight, it isn’t quite the movie star fairytale she had always envisioned.

Axel Ford is the hottest actor on the planet, with his film star good looks, bad boy attitude and a portfolio of profound characters under his belt. He surprised everyone when he agreed to star as the gawky, surface-level Tyler in the highly anticipated book adaptation - which was worlds away from his usual jobs!

With a multi-million pound budget and the guarantee of smashing the box office, all signs point to success. But there’s a hitch, the leading lovebirds hate each other. When Axel offers Verity a surprising proposal, the pair are thrown into one another’s personal lives forcing them into public appearances, intimate moments and complicated emotions.

Amidst clapperboards and camera flashes, will the fire between Axel and Verity destroy the set or fuel the burning desire flourishing beneath the hatred?

Buy a copy here!

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Red Lion Books

Lilah Hart, after getting through the toughest year of her life, faces another blow when she’s made redundant. The company she works for is acquired by her childhood nemesis, who she’s avoided for nearly a decade: a gorgeous Colombian billionaire and her older brother’s best friend.

Zane Moreno has it all - charm, wealth, and a burning desire for success but when he reluctantly hires Lilah to be his personal assistant, they are forced back into each other's day to day lives bringing chaos to his perfectly curated schedule. Between Lilah's defiant, sarcastic attitude and Zane’s domineering, resolute character, they clash over every decision but find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other in a whirlwind of fiery banter, steamy encounters and hidden moments.

With work deadlines and the pressure of concealing their relationship, will Zane be able to prove that he is no longer the same boy from her childhood or will Lilah’s negative memory of him be proven right?

Buy a copy here!

Waterstones

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Red Lion Books

How We Met

We met each other way back in 2018. I (Ria) had been with my boyfriend, Patrick for a few months at this point when he told me his best friend, Harry, had met a girl and that we would be going out for dinner and drinks with them soon.

The night finally arrived for our double date. I was nervous and excited to meet the new girlfriend of Pat’s friendship group as up until then, it had only really been me. Worst case scenario, we at least would have one thing in common to be able to make civil conversation on the odd occasion we would see each other; best case scenario, we’d become besties, see each other a lot and write romance novels together 😉

Luckily for me, I met Jess and over the years we discovered we had a plethora of shared interests; One Direction, karaoke, a mutual appreciation for cheese and charcuterie boards and most importantly, a love of spicy romance.

Jess was the first person to ever lend me a romance book and from this I found myself emerged in the world of smut.

How We Started Writing

One blistering hot morning in June 2024, we had a stall at a local car boot sale. When the shoppers were becoming more sparse and our enthusiasm was at an all time low thanks to an early start fuelled by McDonald’s breakfasts, we began discussing one of the books that Jess was currently reading. Off the cuff, I joked, “We’ve read so many spicy romance books, I bet we could write our own.”

Now we’ve learnt, you can’t flippantly say something to Jess or I, without one of us replying, “Bet.”

Where We Are Now

A year and a half on, we’ve self published our entire first book collection, The Hidden Series. A 4-part interconnected spicy series that centres around a friendship group. We’ve been lucky enough to gain sales and have begun to grow our social pages. We are also stocked in our local bookshop, who have supported us endlessly.

What’s Next?

Moving into 2026, we are going to continue promotion The Hidden Series as well as beginning work on our next series, so stick around as we’ll be sharing all of the behind the scenes information from our writing journey.