With three titles in print and a fourth coming this summer, we revisit Night Buddies author Sands Hetherington’s journey to becoming an accidental author. It started when he found himself a surprise single father. When Sand’s ex-wife announced she planned to move and take their young son, John, Sands tried to talk her out of […]
Today we jump in the way-back machine to retell author Sands Hetherington’s favorite ghost story. But first, let’s explore why we like ghost stories. An article in the Harvard Business Review summarized the psychology behind why we love (or hate) ghost stories. Three reasons we are drawn to horror stories are: They provide Stimulation. “Fright […]
Every writer has been given the obvious, but kind of heartbreaking piece of advice, “Don’t quit your day job.” As in, don’t ever expect to be able to live off of your passion. Some callings are always meant to be side hustles, not real, pay the bills, careers. As always, we can look at the […]
One of the most common problems among new writers is when they say this: “I can only write when [insert arbitrary rule here].” Sometimes they think they can only write in the early morning, sometimes only when their children are out of the house, sometimes only when they feel inspired—but every single one of these […]
I was fortunate to be invited to do a live reading of my newest book, Night Buddies Go Sky High, at the store Books to be Red on Ocracoke Island, NC last week, and it was one of the best experiences I’ve had since the book released earlier this year. A close-knit, enthusiastic group of […]
With so many parenting books on the market these days, it’s difficult to sort through and choose the ones that will be most applicable to your situation and your life. This is why I’ve provided a few different types of parenting book titles below—from ones aimed to parents of young children, to general parenthood stories, […]
One of the difficulties that comes with being a writer is that your job is never finished. You don’t get to come home at the end of the day and cut off thinking about your job completely, and you don’t get to take a two-week paid vacation; as writers, our thoughts are always consumed by […]
As authors, we write books for people to read. We don’t make movies; we want people to follow our stories through our words. So where do we start when we have to all of a sudden turn our literary stories into visual ones? Well, when I was making my trailer for Night Buddies Go Sky […]
You want to know what I think? I think that right now, we are living in a time where most boys are encouraged to play sports or video games by their friends and by society to be considered “normal” or “cool.” We aren’t living in a world where the next generation of boys will be […]
I guess you could argue whether you ever “decide” to write a book—sometimes the idea is just in you and you feel obligated to write it down, or sometimes you’re just born to be someone who never walks away from a blank page. For me, writing the Night Buddies books fell somewhere in between needing […]
In today’s world, self-publishing is an option available to every author, on any budget. With the mass of books being released this way, you might wonder if putting your book out in the world without a traditional publisher is worth it. Will anyone read it? Are you wasting your time? As someone who has successfully […]
It’s the day I’ve been looking forward to for awhile now. Yesterday, my third children’s book, Night Buddies Go Sky, was officially released! In all the excitement leading up to this day, I thought I would share with you all exactly how the Night Buddies series came about. And if I’m being truthful, I have […]