Becky Allen's Blog

I can’t stop thinking about Audra Winter.

My BFF Jess was the first person who told me about her and since then I’ve watched… a few reactions. To say the least.

For those who aren’t in online book spaces that have become obsessed with this, the short version is: Audra Winter is a 22-year-old indie author who managed to get massive hype around her debut novel on TikTok — a fantasy novel that she first came up with when she was 12, and has been diligently working on ever since. It’s got a qu...

Hi! I’m writing this review because it’s information I would have liked but couldn’t find before I purchased this e-reader, so perhaps the dark arts of SEO will work in favor of other potential buyers. I’m sharing my experience, I bought this with my own money, I’m not making a commission, etc.

The Background

Many years ago — like, almost 15 — I had a Nook from B&N. I got a Nook because I was very early on the bandwagon of not wanting to be trapped in Amazon’s ecosystem… not that I’m not ...

I watch too much youtube, and today found myself musing about a video I would make if I were an authortuber, which I’m not. So then I thought, hey, I could record it if I were a podcaster! Which I’m not. (I was briefly but that was awhile ago now.) And then I remembered that I could just write it down, because I am a writer, and oh yeah, I have a newsletter.

Anyway, what I was thinking about was this: I have read some bad books over the last few years, and I’m pretty glad I did, because I def...

It’s that time! The one time a year I reliably send a newsletter or write a blog post, to update with what all I did last year. Here’s an archive of word counts from the last, gosh, decade. I’ve focused less on word count stats in recent years, though — I know I consistently draft about 1,000 words in a 30-minute sprint, and I know that if I focus only on how many words I write in a year I feel crappy about times when I’m not producing words… even if I’m doing something equally important, like e...

It has been a long time. I started writing a newsletter many months ago and then couldn’t get it exactly perfect, let that be the enemy of the good, threw a temper tantrum about it, and never logged in here again. I am a mature grown up. Anyway, now I’m emailing you about coping.

You know what I’m coping with, right? I’m not going to say it. My main coping mechanism is trying not to let it take up too much space in my brain.

Let me get a little more specific with that. I have Anxiety, capi...

Quick check in: with the demise of Tinyletter, I’ve moved my newsletter over to Buttondown. If you subscribed previously you don’t have to subscribe again, and I’m going to continue cross-posting here, too, since I think this version looks nicer than the Buttondown archives.

(And if you haven’t subscribed yet: please do!)

It’s February, which means three things: 1) I meant to write and send this last month because it made more sense as a January newsletter, whoops; 2) it’s time for my annu...

Hi, friends!

First, a bit of housekeeping. To my great sadness, Tinyletter (the service I use to send this) is shutting down. I like Tinyletter a lot because it really is just a text editor where I can toss my thoughts out and send them to you all, and every other newsletter service I’ve looked at is either meant more for sales and formal communication, or is Substack, which I’m not into.

All of which is to say, I’ll be moving this newsletter somewhere else (probably just to Mailchimp), starting i...

Hi friends,

I’m forty years old. While not exactly news, this is new, in that my birthday was the day before I’m writing this. I’ve been surprised by the number of people who’ve asked how I feel about this. There’s a lot to unpack around why peple ask that question, but that’s not what I’m writing about. Let me answer the question instead.

How do I feel about turning forty? I feel fucking awesome about it, let’s fucking go.

I think my forties are going to be amazing, and even if they’re not, I thin...

Hi friends,

Recently, my best friend and writing buddy said one of the most devastatingly true things about me I’ve ever been faced with. In a discussion about starting a new project where I’m trying to be less structured in my prep (we’ll get to that), she looked me dead in the eye and said, “You were just resistant to admitting you’re a vibes-based writer until someone put it on a chart.”

That is not actually a burn, just a very accurate statement of fact, but oof, how dare she know me so well.

L...

Hello, friends!

So much for my goal of sending a newsletter every month. I kept trying to think of March themes and then didn’t. You came very close to seeing a timeline of my pandemic hair situation but it felt too silly. (Both the newsletter and my pandemic hair, thankfully long since shaved off.)

First off, the news: at long, long, long last, I have finished the manuscript I’ve been working in in different variations since, uh, 2018. Hooray! But of course, this is really just a first step. Now ...