From Trauma to Thriller: Why Southern Gothic Became My Writing Home

I've spent sixteen years in the classroom: special education, science, now chemistry and biology for students with learning disabilities. Teaching is about meeting people where they are and walking them toward where they need to go. That's exactly what I tried to build into these guides: clear paths through complicated creative terrain.

But the Southern Gothic guide came from somewhere deeper.

Many of you know my first novel, Where Secrets Stay, started as a memoir. I wrote it to process a childhood filled with abuse, secrets, and the kind of silence that stretches across generations. Somewhere along the way, I gave those memories to Kevan Renee, the main character in my first novel. Her story became the container for mine.

Now I'm thirty-one chapters into Where Secrets Sleep (sequel in The Secrets Trilogy), and Grace's ghost is desperate for her truth to surface. The sins of 1955 are bleeding into the present. The heartbreaks are just beginning.

And I finally understand why Southern Gothic is my home.

This genre lives in the space between what families say and what they bury. It's built on haunted ground—literal and emotional. The crumbling houses, the weight of history, the violence we inherit whether we want it or not.

I didn't learn to write Southern Gothic from craft books. I learned it from surviving it.

That's what I poured into 30 Days to Your First Southern Gothic Thriller. Not theory... experience. As far as the other two guides, they came from experiences as well. Haven't we all endured a difficult relationship at some point in our lives, whether romantic or familial? Every prompt about generational trauma, every question about the secrets that rot beneath Southern charm, every exercise about place as a living, breathing force. I wrote it because I walked that ground first.

The series launches February 3rd. Three guides, three subgenres, thirty days each to build the framework of a thriller that keeps readers turning pages. But if you want to know which one has my blood in it?

You already know.

Pick your poison. Start digging. I'll see you in the red clay or in the suffocating mansion. You can find out more about these by clicking the image below. If you've ever been curious about writing a thriller, check them out. Each book has 30 days of prompts, with two options to choose from, filled with examples. If you've always wanted to write... here's your chance.

Until next time... keep reading, writing, learning, teaching, and dreaming. They are all connected!