Hi.
Ten seconds starts now.
Not metaphorically. Not poetically.
Literally.
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
If you’re still reading this instead of deciding what you’d grab, you’re already behind.
That’s the thing about pressure (real or imagined) it doesn’t wait for you to feel ready. It just shows up, leans in close, and says, go.
I used to think panic was the enemy of good thinking.
Now I’m not so sure.
Sometimes panic is just honesty arriving late.
Because the truth is, most of us live like we’ve got unlimited time to decide who we are in a moment that actually matters. We hesitate like hesitation is harmless. Like standing still is neutral.
It isn’t.
Standing still is a choice. It just doesn’t feel like one.
And if I’m honest, I’ve been thinking about how often kids already know this better than adults do.
A kid doesn’t stand in a burning kitchen wondering about long-term consequences.
A kid moves.
Fast.
Messy.
Wrong half the time.
But alive.
And maybe that’s why I keep writing stories where things go wrong quickly.
Not because I like chaos.
Because I don’t trust stillness pretending to be safety.
Somewhere along the way, we start believing life gives warnings before impact.
It doesn’t.
It gives clues.
It gives noise in the hallway.
It gives a strange silence where there shouldn’t be one.
It gives a backpack that suddenly feels too light or a plan that feels too perfect.
And then it asks:
What are you going to do about it?
Alright.
Time’s up.
You didn’t actually think I was going to leave you hanging like that, did you?
Good.
Because this is where I tell you why I write stories like Iggy & Oz.
Because in those books, ten seconds is often too generous.
Plans collapse faster than they’re made.
Logic gets replaced by impulse.
And kids— you know, the ordinary kids—end up in situations where thinking fast matters more than thinking right.
Which is probably closer to real life than we like to admit.
There’s humor in it.
There’s disaster in it.
And somehow, there’s courage buried inside all that mess.
If you’ve ever liked the idea of things going wildly, unpredictably wrong (and then somehow still being funny), you’ll probably feel at home there.
Start here:
And whatever you do…
Don’t overthink it.
I’ll be in Waco, Texas on Saturday, July 18, at 2:00 p.m. at Union Hall, and I’d love to see you there!
I’ll be hanging out with fellow middle-grade authors Vanessa E. Howard and Lyndsey Lewellen for an afternoon of book signings, a fun Q&A, and a few giveaways.
If you’re in the area, come say hello, grab a signed book, ask us your burning writing or reading questions, and enjoy a fun afternoon with fellow book lovers.
Hope to see you there!
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