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Reflections on my Half-Blood Mage Cover + Diversity in YA fantasy Novels

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My debut novel,  Half-Blood Mage  is finally out!  To celebrate, I thought I'd give you a sneak peek into some of the decisions I made along the way... especially the decisions regarding Lia's race and my cover design.  Should Lia be Asian? Honestly, I debated whether to make Lia Asian at all. Her "Asian-ess" (in this case, I imagined her to be half-Taiwanese, half-Caucasian) doesn't really have anything to do with her story. She doesn't speak another language. I don't really bring up her multiracial upbringing that often. And her mixed-background isn't super important to her story arc. Lia could honestly look like anyone. Or have any background. The only key feature she needed to have was heterochromia.  But here's the reason why I made Lia Asian: I'm Asian. My parents are originally from Taiwan. And I married an Asian man. So I've experienced life through a very Asian American perspective.  Su
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Best FREE Graphic Design Websites for Authors

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Ever wonder how Indie Authors create all those gorgeous graphics for book promotions and book launches? Want to make professional Facebook and Instagram posts to advertise your books... for FREE? Well, here are my favorite websites to create stunning graphic images for cheap ! Top 3 FREE Graphic Design Websites for Indie Authors As an Indie Author you're not only a writer. Unless you pay other people to do the countless other jobs that come along with publishing books, you're probably donning a lot of hats. You're a book promoter.  You're a graphic designer.  You're a social media coordinator.  You're an advertiser.  You're a newsletter writer.  (And you probably do all these jobs on top of the other jobs you do during the day... like parent. Or clean. Or work.) I've only just dipped my toes into self-publishing waters, but I've already seen how important marketing and book promotion can be. And while I have yet to figure out ad
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Do I need an MFA to write a novel?

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Well, do I? Surprise!  If you came to this blog post looking for an answer to this particular question.... then you came to the wrong place.  Sorry!  This is just a question that's been plaguing me for awhile and I thought it would be a fun way to title the blog post. Currently, I'm in the middle of writing the first draft for my second novel.  It's uber tedious and wonderfully fulfilling all at the same time.  I'm getting better at riding the twists and turns of the creative process, but questions like this always creep in... Am I good enough? Do I know enough about the English language to convey what I truly want to convey?
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