Category: Sneak Peeks

If you are relatively new to my website or blog, welcome!

Since it’s the day after Christmas and smack dab in the middle of the holiday season, I thought I’d take this relatively chill moment to share a bit about myself and my latest work-in-progress, “A Fierce Debt.”

My latest book “A Fierce Debt,” is a new adult Robinhood-inspired fantasy romance taking place in a setting similar to the Scottish Highlands. Think if Robinhood was Gaelic and even more morally grey than he is already and if Maid Marian is a feminist. There’s a slow-burn romance, lots of adventure and wise-cracking bandits.

I wrote “A Fierce Debt” back in November for NaNoWriMo. It was my first time participating in the challenge. I hope to edit the work some more soon and eventually publish it, but right now, it is available for free to read on Inkitt.

About Me

My name is Cailin and I’ve been writing and reading since I was little. I “published” my first book in elementary school–a knock-off Harry Potter that was written on white copy paper and stapled together.

Being an author was, for a long time, a pipe dream that I revisited from time to time. I graduated from college with a dual degree in English and Journalism and went straight on to graduate school. From there, I went straight to full-time work. So slowing down and finding time to actually write was never really a thing…until it was.

I moved to Kansas in 2020, right before the start of the pandemic. While we all know how shitty that was, one silver lining was that I found myself with a lot more time to write. It took me one whole year to finish my first non-fiction book, “How to Become a Grown-Ass Woman.” It took another year and a half to query and eventually self-publish. My first book was published for ebook and paperback in October 2022.

Despite my first book being self-help, my true love has always been fantasy and romance. My dream is to have “A Fierce Debt” turn into a trilogy.

Some other fun facts about me:

• My fiance and I are currently hunting for our first home.
• I own three cats and an Arabian cross horse named Louie.
• I grow my own peppers and usually have a few other vegetables and flowers going.
• On weekends, I like baking yummy treats. On my to-bake list: chocolate orange banana bread, key lime pie, lemon drizzle cake, red velvet Yule log (I’m a Great British Baking Show fan!)

I wanted to take some time today to share one of my favorite excerpts from my recently released book, “How to Become a Grown-Ass Woman: Modern advice for adulting while making money and smashing the patriarchy.”

This section is from Chapter 7, Love: Searching for a fellow weirdo:

Love isn’t everything.

One of the most profound things I’ve ever read came from an otherwise unhelpful self-help book. The author said something along the lines of, “If your sense of peace relies on another person, you will never have it. Peace does not come from other people; it can only come from within.” 

Sit with that for a second.

While we can find moments of peace with others in relationships, moments where you are maybe snuggled together and you feel content to just sit there with them, we can’t rely on others to give us peace in the long term.

While relationships give our lives as humans a lot of meaning, the truth is that other people will let us down every now and then. If our emotional stability relies on another person, we are going to feel like we are on a never-ending roller coaster. 

Maybe you instantly recognize that feeling because you’ve been there before. This can often happen when we lose ourselves in another person and our emotional state largely is a result of our interactions with them. For example, have you ever been in a relationship where when everything is good, you’re high in the sky? But then maybe they have a bad day, or you get into an argument, and you instantly feel low? 

When we fail to rely on our own strength and emotional stability to float gently above other people’s emotions, we tend to absorb those of the people around us, especially if they are someone we care deeply about. This habit can be even more tempting to those who view themselves as highly emotionally intelligent or sensitive.

The only way out of this pattern is to work on finding peace and stability within yourself, not letting others’ intense emotions impact your own. When you can learn to rely on yourself and trust that your own emotions are true and valid, you become less affected by external forces.

Including this advice in my book was important to me because it was one of the hardest lessons I learned in my twenties. Especially as somebody who has struggled with their mental health, I’ve learned that my relationships, romantic and otherwise, are better when I can stand on my own two feet.

I’ve seen many young women, myself and friends included, “lose” themselves in a romantic relationship. Besides the ill effects of losing touch with friends, becoming too dependent on a partner puts a person at risk of developing codependent tendencies.

If I could tell anything to my younger self when it comes to dating, I’d tell myself to choose myself first and balance my relationships.

I hope you enjoyed this short sneak peek at my book! If you’d like to read more, “How to Become a Grown-Ass Woman” is currently available on Kindle (and FREE if you have Kindle Unlimited!) The paperback will be released on Oct. 3.