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Two months into writing Project Mirror and I’m finally ready to share a piece of this world with you. This excerpt comes from early in the book, when my protagonist still believes in what she’s doing. She works for Aesthetic Dynamics Corp as a Senior Aesthetic Technician, fixing glitches in people’s neural beauty systems. Think […]

Video call with Lydia from Antalya confirming final timeline. Pre-production January-February 2026. Filming spring. Pilot screening Q3 2026 at Pushkin House. Two years of collaboration led to this moment. From casual mentorship to research memos to full documentary project. Timeline makes it official. Sixth research memo almost finished. Examines how digital platforms change storytelling for

Yesterday’s interview with hjbookblog reminded me why I prefer talking to actual readers over standard questionnaires. The blogger, a literature enthusiast from India who clearly reads everything she features, asked questions that made me think rather than recite my usual author talking points. When she asked which themes I keep returning to, I found myself

Two months inside Project Mirror and I have to take regular walks through Hyde Park just to remember what unfiltered reality looks like. The corporate structure behind my fictional beauty-tech empire is becoming terrifyingly plausible. I’m calling them Aesthetic Dynamics Corp – chose the name for its bland corporate poetry, the kind that hides sinister

ECG just confirmed something I didn’t anticipate: excerpts from Polished Edges and Temporary Access are being considered for screen adaptation. December 2025, London. “Film & Literature: Shorts Review” session as part of ECG Film Festival 2026 programming cycle. My short story collections will be reviewed alongside work from other writers for possible development into micro-short

Three weeks deep into Project Mirror research and reality keeps making my dystopian fiction look tame. My protagonist is shaping up as a tech support specialist for people’s faces. When someone’s lip enhancement algorithm crashes mid-Zoom call, she fixes it. When their eye color update conflicts with skin tone optimization, she debugs their entire aesthetic

Yesterday a client asked for ‘influencer hands.’ Not the manicure – she wanted surgery to match some AI-generated beauty standard from TikTok. Her actual hand shape wasn’t good enough anymore. That conversation gave me my next book idea. I’ve been sketching this world where beauty isn’t just aspirational – it’s algorithmic. Your reflection gets software

Sometimes the most meaningful validation comes from unexpected quarters. This week, I discovered that Eastern Empire had been the subject of a comprehensive critical analysis in Arts & Culture UK, penned by respected critic and reviewer Yulia Tulegenova. Reading Tulegenova’s piece felt like watching someone carefully dissect the architectural blueprints of a building you’d constructed

Thirteenth or fourteenth mentorship session. Visual concept work for documentary plus scene boards for my own short film adaptations. Lydia’s photo-art background transformative here. She sees narrative cinematically. How lighting creates mood. How camera angles suggest power dynamics. How editing rhythm controls emotional impact. We developed visual style guide for documentary. Naturalistic lighting. Handheld camera

The most valuable lesson from my luxury brand management MBA wasn’t taught in any classroom — it came from watching a content creator have a breakdown in my nail salon. She’d built a million-follower empire around wellness and authenticity, but sitting in my chair, mascara smudged, she whispered: “I don’t remember who I was before