From the Writing Desk

Notes from behind the stories– what I’m writing, what I’m researching, and the forgotten places that keep finding their way onto my pages.

So I wrote a Book.. Now what?

August 2026

There is something weird about typing ‘The End’ on a story that has been living inside my head. To be completely honest, The House of Glass and Vines wasn’t the original book that made me want to start writing.

The book that made me want to start writing is still in the “vault” but after a couple years struggling with writers block, I was trying to find some new inspiration and started reading another series by another author you may all know.. I think her name is… Rebecca Yarros?

That series ignited my imagination and brought out The House of Glass and Vines and somehow, before I knew it, I had an entire novel written.

My first book. Completed. What??

I thought finishing it would feel like reaching the finish line. Turns out, it was more like reaching the starting line for me.

Right now, I’m deep in revisions– going back through Elara’s story chapter by chapter, tightening things, moving things, finding pieces that don’t quite fit and occasionally wondering what I was thinking when I put that in there. I’ve also taken the terrifying (and exciting) step of submitting my story for publication. It’s officially out there!

There are days when that feels completely surreal.

The House of Glass & Vines was inspired by the kind of stories I’ve made up in my head. About forgotten history, old places, small towns, and the idea that the past doesn’t disappear simply because people stop talking. And maybe that’s what this journal will be too.

I want this to be the place where I share what happens ‘between the books.’

The research rabbit holes. The places that inspire stories. The chapters that refuse to cooperate. The new ideas that show up when I’m supposed to be finishing the old ones. And yes… there are already new ones happening.

While I’m revising The House of Glass & Vines, another story has started taking shape– one involving elemental trials, inherited power, and an eighteen-year-old girl who’s about to discover that everything she was taught about her bloodline may be wrong.

Apparently my imagination did not get the memo that we’re supposed to finish one thing at a time.

So that’s where I am. One finished(ish) manuscript. One new story growing. A ridiculous number of ideas waiting their turn. And absolutely no idea where all of this will lead but, I’m really glad you’re here. At the beginning of my story.

–Samantha Jo

Every town has a story. Some were never meant to be forgotten.