Terraforming Mountains: Writing Novels, Forging New Paths, and Working Full Time

Living Life on an Incline

Uphill Both Ways

I’ve spent my entire life feeling like I’m terraforming a mountain with my bare hands.

Everything is uphill. Two steps forward, three steps back. If it isn’t a financial struggle, it’s a health struggle. If it isn’t time, it’s mental bandwidth. Every day I look in the mirror, past the exhaustion, and ask myself the same question: Do I have what it takes to succeed?

And every day, I land on the same answer: it’s either keep going or give up. And I can’t do that.

The Early Seeds of Inspiration

Am I Missing Something?

I’ve studied people for years, especially the ones who made it despite impossible odds. As a homeschooled child, I had these books and tapes called Power Tales. My favorite was called "The Power of Overcoming" about Helen Keller. Her story planted something in me early: a deep, enduring gratitude and a belief in the power of overcoming.

That belief became a lifeline. Because life has always been hard. Not sometimes. Always.

In college, I wrote an essay about historical figures who likely lived with PTSD from childhood trauma. I was stunned by how many “greats” carried invisible wounds. It became another anchor: If they could do it, maybe I can too.

Why Some of Us Are Driven Toward the Hard Path

Thanks a lot, Moon in Capricorn!

I’ve wondered why some of us feel compelled to chase something bigger than an easy life. Maybe hardship sharpens that instinct. Maybe it’s the desire to turn pain into meaning.

For me, it has always been about inspiration. The kind I’ve received from writers, artists, musicians, and inventors whose work carried me through storms I thought would drown me. I want to be that for someone else.

My life is small. My voice is unusual. I’m not mainstream. But I feel called to represent trauma survivors in fiction with honesty and realism. So many people don’t understand that trauma doesn’t stay in the past. It shapes you into the angel or the devil you become.

The Courage to Be Seen

This is Me Every Monday

The most recent influence on my creative life has been Brené Brown. Her book Daring Greatly nudged me into self‑publishing. Her reflections on never fitting in pushed me to step beyond my limits.

It takes grit to hold onto a dream when everything in your life tells you to let go. It takes courage to believe in yourself when the echoes of your past insist you’re destined to fail. But because others have dared to share their stories, I feel like I can too.

Running on Empty... but Still Running

Waiting For the Breakthrough

Recently, I watched the new season of Outlast on Netflix. In the final episode, two exhausted contestants sprinted through the jungle toward the finish line, running on fumes but refusing to stop.

Now I picture myself like that. Running on empty, but still running.

For so long, I believed I needed confidence to follow my dreams. Now I know that’s not true.

I don’t start out confident.

Write This Everywhere

I start out stubborn.

I keep going even when I feel like a fraud.

I keep publishing even when I don’t believe in myself.

I keep promoting even when my inner critic screams at me to quit.

Confidence isn’t the prerequisite.

Confidence is the byproduct.

My job isn’t to feel confident.

My job is to keep going until confidence

has no choice but to catch up.

Carving the Path Anyway

Something Worth Memorizing

I can reach the top of this mountain, even if I have to carve half of it away to make a path.

Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken has always felt like a mirror to my life. Two roads diverge. I choose the one less traveled. And that choice—that stubbornness—is what makes all the difference.