People ask me how I write and put out books so fast. I write in complete chaos, but it somehow works. I’m always writing. And I don’t mean one book at a time. I jump around between several. I might work on the money magic book in the morning, and then later that night, I’m elbow-deep in love spells or jotting down ideas for a chapter on scent and ritual. I follow the flow and write where the energy is moving. Do I have a problem with focusing my attention? Maybe. But that’s how I keep it fresh and don’t get stuck or bored.
I always start by building a table of contents. I learned that trick from my good friend, Catherine Yronwode, who I have co-authored two books with. That table of contents, knowing where the book is going, is what keeps me from spinning my wheels. I lay out the whole book first—chapter titles, sections, all of it—so when I sit down to write, I already know what goes where. I keep it all in an Excel file with columns for chapters, sections within a chapter, notes, spells, ideas, and links to other articles and research on the subject. I then pick a section and work on it. A little here, a little there. It adds up.
And sometimes, I just let the writing sit. Right now, I’ve got three books sitting at around 75%, another that’s 90% done, and five more fully outlined with their first few chapters written. They’re just waiting. Then, one day, the muse shows up, and I sit down. The next thing you know, I finish up all of them and prep them for release. That’s why I might go 18 months without publishing anything—and then suddenly, five new titles come out at once.
Writing nonfiction is different than fiction. I’m not inventing characters—I’m writing what I already know, use, and teach. So, there is no writer’s block here. And believe me, when I try to write fiction, there is plenty of writer’s block. I get to around a hundred pages, then don’t know what will happen next. With nonfiction, I’m not guessing. I’m remembering, researching, explaining, and making it useful for someone else.
And the more books I write, the easier it gets. You find your rhythm. You get faster—not because you’re rushing, but because you’re writing about things you talk about every day anyway. Running a metaphysical shop, we’re having these conversations all the time. Someone comes in asking about money work or candle magic or how to use tarot in spellwork—and before you know it, you’ve explained it ten different ways that week. So when it’s time to write it down, it’s already lived in. It’s just about getting it on the page.
Also, I love the research. Even if I’ve studied a topic for years, I still dig in again while I’m writing. Not just to double-check things but because I want to learn something new. Sometimes, I find things that completely reframe my thoughts about the subject. It’s exciting and, at times, humbling. It reminds you that, no, you don’t know everything. That curiosity becomes its own kind of muse. And when a book is finished, I know more about that subject than when I started.
I just released Hecate: The Goddess of Witchcraft and Tarot Magic: Spells, Spreads, and Sorcery Using the Tarot Deck—which was originally a class I taught on ZOOM last year. I’ve got The Sacred Phallus releasing very soon, followed by Money Magic – Spells for Abundance and Prosperity. Then there are three more titles close to done and another four fully outlined and underway.
For editing, I use the online software Grammarly—mostly because I tend to ignore proper punctuation when I’m in writing mode. It’s good for catching little things I miss and sometimes suggests ways to clarify a sentence. But honestly, I probably only take its suggestions about 30% of the time. If you follow it too closely, you end up editing all the personality out of your writing. And I’d rather keep the voice real, even if there’s an extra comma here and there.
It sounds like a lot, and it is—but I love what I do. I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was 12. I played with it off and on over the years, but I didn’t publish my first book until I was in my early 40s when I began my journey into nonfiction writing. So maybe I’m playing catch-up now. Or maybe I just finally found my rhythm.
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