Hello! Some days, I really wish there was a shortcut for learning writing craft. I finished listening to Brandon Sanderson's 2025 lecture series that I mentioned before, and he talks about writing 12 (!) books over about 10 years (!!) before he got his first offer of publication... for a measly $5,000 advance (that was negotiated up to a whopping $10,000). There are few careers that pay worse than writing for the majority of authors, which is one of the reasons why most novelists have day...
4 days ago • 2 min read
Hi, there! After my post/email last week, someone asked me why I switched to using one of my own photos instead of a stock photo. After many years of blogging about Foreign Service life, I'm used to using either my own photos or a free, unlicensed stock photo depending on the topic. However, all the unlicensed stock photo websites I've used have become increasingly inundated with AI-generated images. As a writer, I oppose generative AI for creative writing. There are many reasons for this,...
11 days ago • 1 min read
Hello! You may know that Brandon Sanderson is one of the most prolific and successful fiction authors of all time. Did you also know that he regularly lectures on the craft of speculative fiction writing and the business of publishing, and then kindly makes that content available online for free? I listened to his previous Brigham Young University (BYU) lecture series from 2016 on YouTube and have recently been working through an updated 2025 version of the same lecture series in podcast...
18 days ago • 1 min read
When I was in college, some of my friends and I exchanged handwritten letters. It was a nice way to stay in touch when we scattered to different universities, and I remember how exciting it felt to receive a letter in the mail - completely different than a text or email! There's something similarly special about reading my words on published paper instead of just on a screen. I'll forever be grateful to Exponent II for being the first to publish my adult fiction in this way, and I still keep...
26 days ago • 1 min read
We took a family trip to Chincoteague, an island in Virginia famous for horses. This fame comes from Misty of Chincoteague, a children’s novel written by Marguerite Henry. As a testament to how impactful this novel is, I read it in the early 2000s as a kid even though it was originally published in 1947! (Did any other readers go through a horse girl phase as a kid? I know there must be a few.) Although I didn’t have time to re-read the book before our trip, we did watch the 1961 film...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Let me start by saying I highly recommend subscribing to Process by Wil Dalton, a Substack by another member of the Foreign Service community, writer, and friend of mine. Wil recently wrote a post called “Songs I Cried To Flying Away From War” that resonated with me. For those who don’t know, Wil and I were both evacuated from the Middle East months ago – an experience I mentioned in my final post on my Foreign Service blog, nandm.sbitani.com. A dear friend and colleague recently tagged me in...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hello! People often ask me what are examples of shows or movies or books that just get international relations right. I might be biased, but I think some of the best are not historical or contemporary but rather speculative fiction. I want to give a shout-out to a show that I think does an excellent job in this area, and the best part is that the show is adapted from a book series that deserves the same praise. I'm talking about sci-fi series The Expanse, which you can watch on Amazon Prime....
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hey! Getting rejected is an unpleasant but absolutely necessary part of writing for those of us (like me) who want to have our words published by others. Rejection stings, but I promise it gets better the more you practice. When I started trying to publish my fiction, the rejections were so demotivating. I didn't want rejection to be the end of my fiction attempts, though, so in 2021 I made it my New Year's Resolution to get 50 rejections. I reached my goal of 50 rejections, changed my...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hello! I've heard so much awful writing advice since I started taking my fiction writing more seriously a few years back. But one of the worst pieces of advice I've ever heard is, "Writers shouldn't read too much of others' work." What?! The logic of this advice goes: if you read too much of what other people wrote, you'll lose your unique voice and style. You might catch yourself imitating somebody else instead of honing your own skills. You could lose confidence in whatever you have to...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi, there! One of these days, I'd love to do an episode-by-episode breakdown of Madam Secretary and/or The Diplomat - what's realistic and what isn't. (Let me know if you'd be interested in that and which I should do first by replying to one of my emails or tagging me on Bluesky, and I might make some time this year!) The reality is that pretty much all popular books and shows about diplomacy are full of inaccuracies. Have you ever watched a show that touched on your niche area of expertise...
3 months ago • 2 min read