What’s Next?

Dear gentle readers (and prospective rough readers), I’m excited to share my current writing project with you! But first…

What have I been up to for the past year? Well, I released my third book—When Love Holidays: A Christmas Rom-Com!—in October 2024, spent the rest of that year marketing it, and then jumped right into writing my “next” novel. The only holdup? I’ve unfortunately been all over the place while choosing which of my many ideas to focus on.

For example, I started 2025 off inspired to write the young adult fantasy series I’d previously outlined, and I made a lot of progress… at first. I drafted about 20,000 words (or 20-25% of the first book in the series) without any trouble, but then found myself feeling a bit stuck. I struggled mostly with questions around point-of-view (1^st vs 3^rd person, as well as how many viewpoints to show,) since the books contain three equally important heroines, and I didn’t want to go too far down any one path until deciding which was best.

So, I moved on to drafting a different idea instead: a dark comedy/psychological thriller about a woman being tormented by a honeybee… which I realize sounds silly, but I assure you it’s actually quite deep and brilliant (if I do say so myself.) That novel, with a working title of Melissa, addresses many complex topics around grief, mental illness, trauma, and the necessity of human relationships. I figured it would be a good project to work on whenever I was feeling down, since I’m a “mood writer” of sorts, but then I sadly discovered that writing something depressing when you’re already depressed is a sure-fire way to stay there. Or worse. So, even though I still hope to finish that story someday, it was time to shift gears entirely.

In the spring, I stopped writing for a while and simply read books, binged shows, and watched movies that made me feel better. And you guessed it—they were mostly all romantic comedies, a.k.a. rom-coms. A few of my favorite rom-com reads in 2025 so far have been by Katherine Center (The Love Haters), Abby Jimenez (Say You’ll Remember Me and Life’s Too Short), Sarah Adams (Beg, Borrow, or Steal and The Temporary Roomie), and Lucy Score’s entire Knockemout series. Okay, so the term “a few” is subjective.

Anyway, all of that inspiration lead me to work on another rom-com novel that I’d first had the idea for back in 2022. Drumroll please… Four Funerals and My Brother’s Best Friend’s Wedding. Yes, that title is a mouthful. And yes, I might have to shorten it before publishing (maybe, maybe not), but I love it! I only have about 10,000 words written so far, but I know where it’s going, and I’m excited for the journey! As the title suggests, there are ’90s rom-com vibes throughout, with special “Easter eggs” for fans of the classic films Four Weddings and A Funeral and My Best Friend’s Wedding. More importantly, it will have a unique twist on the “brother’s best friend” trope, which is wildly underrepresented in movies given how amazing it is, if you ask me.

And even though no one did ask me, I’d also like to say the following: there will never be too many rom-coms in this world; you can’t have too much of a good thing; and everyone should read and/or watch whatever makes them happy. Joy is such a precious commodity. Let’s all find it where we can!

So yeah, I’m in my rom-com era. Feel free to join me and stay tuned for more updates!

July 1, 2025 0

Success

While I have big dreams for my career as an author, my decision to publish my work (rather than just writing for myself) was driven by the belief that words and stories matter. They can impact our lives. They can teach us. They can heal us. They can open our eyes and hearts to fresh perspectives. Or, if nothing else, they can transport us to a world where our problems don’t exist for a while.

That is the power of stories.

So then: “How do you define success?”

I was recently asked this by an instructor in a writing class, and for me, the answer was easy. Since publishing my first novel, I have always told myself the following:

If even one reader is positively impacted by something I’ve written—whether emotionally moved, helped, or simply entertained—then it was a success.

I’m happy to report that I achieved such success soon after my first book was released, when love poured in for When Love Hurts from readers and bookstagrammers around the country and abroad. My absolute favorite “success” was a surprise Instagram message from a reader who had stayed up reading until 2 a.m. and wanted to let me know how much the book had meant to her. (Never hesitate to send such messages to your favorite authors. It’s pure gold to us!)

I received handfuls of messages like those—not thousands, or even hundreds—just handfuls. But by my definition of success, that was more than enough.

Fast forward two years later… I now have two published books and a third releasing later this year. In all honesty, it’s been increasingly difficult to ignore traditional measures of success, such as money (a.k.a. book sales) and status (i.e. When will I get famous?) But I’m doing my best to remind myself every day why I do this: Because I love writing, and stories matter.

With that in mind, I think I found a new type of success today that I’d like to share. Let me set the scene for you:

I’m currently editing my third novel, When Love Holidays, and have been for months. Today, I’m at my computer, rereading the middle of the book for perhaps the millionth time, when I get to the part where my main character, Noelle, is finally reading an online message that her love interest had sent her a week prior. As I’m reading the heartfelt message sent to “everyday_merry” from “average_joe” on my computer screen, my eyes water with tears, as if I’m learning for the first time that the man Noelle loves has been in love with her for as long as he can remember. I’m going to pause right there…

Please keep in mind that I WROTE THIS BOOK. I am also the person who wrote the message from “average_joe.” It is definitely not the first time I am reading this message, nor should anything in it be a surprise to me. AND YET, I found myself shocked by his revelation and CRYING over how bittersweet the message was, given the circumstances of the scene (don’t worry; no spoilers here.)

The fact that I could be SURPRISED into CRYING over something I HAD WRITTEN can only be explained in one of two ways:

I’ve been editing for so long that I’ve gone crazy, or…
I’ve created lovable characters with emotional stakes so believable that they feel real, and it’s impossible not care.

The answer could easily be number one, or a bit of both, but number two is what I’m considering a new brand of “success.” So, to recap:

Success = positively impacting at least one reader or making myself cry 😊

Wish me luck as I continue my endless revisions and drop any questions or comments below!

Until next time,

March 21, 2024 0

What’s in a pen name?

Perhaps the most common question I receive from friends and aspiring authors is: how did you choose your pen name?

Many authors choose to write under a different name or, in some cases, multiple noms de plume. So, let’s start with why writers might do that. The most common reason is to protect their families in the event their work becomes popular, especially if anything could be considered controversial. And, in my humble opinion, all great writing has the potential to offend someone, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Another great reason to use a pen name is branding. Books are art… but also products, and each author is a brand. A pen name allows an author to create an image consistent with their work, which may differ from their personal image. It’s also common for an author to publish under multiple pen names when writing different genres (e.g., Nora Roberts for romance, and J. D. Robb for crime thrillers.) This helps set reader expectations.

When I chose S. J. Greene, my logic was pretty simple—S & J are the first and last initials of my real name. Greene was somewhat random, but 1) I liked the way it sounded, 2) I consider myself environmentally minded or “green,” and 3) I’m a huge FRIENDS fan and thought of Rachel Greene (she spells it with an “e” at the end, for the record, despite the mixed spellings online. I can do a separate blog post on how I know that later.)

As a new author, it’s also important to make sure the pen name you want to use isn’t already used by another author. There are several ways to check for this, with the most obvious being a Google search. Other great places include:

Amazon and other book retailer sites
Goodreads author search
U.S. Copyrights search (Note: A pen name cannot be copyrighted, but this is one way to check if the name in question has works copyrighted under it already.)

My last bit of advice is to consider the naming convention typically used in your genre and what “brand” you want to create for yourself. In hindsight, part of me wishes I would’ve used my full first name + Greene, mostly because the initials end up entered with a bunch of variations: S. J. (with space = correct); S.J. (without space); S J (without periods); SJ (without periods or space.)

But the good news is you can always change it later or use multiple pen names. No decision is set in stone, so if you’re trying to choose your own nom de plume, don’t stress over it too much. The important part is that YOU like it.

I hope you found this insightful! Please feel free to drop any questions in the comments.

XOXO

July 12, 2023 0