It's amazing to see Alysa Liu, whose career I've followed since she was too short to climb onto the podium at Nationals, become this global phenomenon. I'm only seeing a fraction of the love she's getting (gave up mindless scrolling for Lent), but what I've seen brings me so much joy.
That said, I've seen so many posts about how "Alysa is going to save 2026." I know they're mostly joking, but that's a lot of weight to put on a 20-year-old's shoulders.
I want Alysa, and anyone else who needs to hear this, to know that it's okay to put that weight down.
You are not responsible for the world's happiness.
If, at some point in the future, you are not okay, please, please speak up. Don't feel like you have to be joyful all the time or risk disappointing people. We want you safe and present more than we want you performing joy.
(I'm not saying her joy right now isn't genuine. I think it absolutely is. I'm saying she shouldn't feel like she HAS to maintain it for our sake.)
We want you around for a long time. And that means all of you, the joy and the struggle.
I'm so close to finishing DDDC! This is a book I started back in 2022 but kept having to drop to focus on other projects, so I'm excited to see it almost done.
Week 8 Wrap-Up:
DDDC: Finished my line editing pass. I combined it with a weasel word pass. My most common weasel word is "something." I went through each instance and replaced it with a more specific word when appropriate.
Week 8 Wins:
Productive week despite distractions. Did additional dog sitting and took my own dog to the vet. She's fine; just old and arthritic.
This week I'm tackling:
DDDC: Doing a final read-through on my kindle and then listening to it in Word. I think I'll finish early, but I'm not planning on working on anything else this week because I always find that I'm exhausted after completing a project.
I had a productive week despite it being the Olympics. This is the first Olympics where I've followed figure skating for the entire quad, so it's exciting seeing the skaters I've watched for the past four years compete on such a big stage. Heartbroken for Ilia, but proud of him and the rest of Team USA!
Week 7 Wrap-Up:
DDDC: While doing my read through, I had a feeling that something was off. On Wednesday, I decided to cut chapters 1 and 2, and incorporate any necessary backstory organically throughout the manuscript. It's made such a difference in terms of pacing!
Project Sports Desk: I completed the new outline. I'm pleased that it mostly requires adding new scenes as opposed to deleting existing ones.
Week 7 Wins:
DDDC is structurally sound!
This week I'm tackling:
DDDC: Doing a read-through for line level edits. The manuscript is already pretty clean. Now it's a matter of tightening up the prose and checking for any inconsistencies.
Since my Heated Rivalry obsession isn't going away anytime soon, I decided that if I'm going to watch it, I might as well be productive while doing so. So here's one thing I learned about writing from watching Heated Rivalry for the [redacted] time. Consider this a spoiler warning for Season 1.
Insults as Love Language
If you want alcohol poisoning, take a shot every time Ilya calls Shane "boring" or Shane calls Ilya an "asshole."
But these insults are actually needs disguised as barbs.
What makes it effective: The insults are things the other person craves.
Ilya comes from a dysfunctional family, so Shane's "boringness" is the stability he desperately wants. For Shane, who's spent his whole life as the golden boy, the responsible one, the role model for every Asian/Asian-Canadian kid out there, Ilya being an asshole to him: A) makes him feel normal, and B) gives him permission to be less than Mr. Perfect.
This means every barb is specific. They're not throwing random insults at each other. Each one is personal to the characters, which makes the banter feel real.
How I Applied This to DDDC
This week, while revising DDDC (my YA romcom), I spent a lot of time amping up the bantering moments between my two MCs. Fortunately, I already had the framework in the manuscript. It was just a matter of teasing those moments out and making them more specific.
Meet Silas: He's impulsive. His whole family operates on a "we'll figure it out" energy, which directly impacts the A-story (saving his family's food forest, which has been neglected since his father died).
But on a deeper level, Silas is displaying avoidance masquerading as flexibility. He's not actually chill. He's decided that if he doesn't plan for things, he can't be disappointed when they fall apart. He's been burned by things he couldn't control (like his dad's death), so he's stopped trying to control anything.
But what he's actually craving? Someone who will take control.
Enter Beck: As the son of a late, legendary celebrity chef, Beck wants to control everything. He's meticulous, fastidious, loves to color-code. But he's not actually a control freak. He's terrified of things going wrong. Because when things go wrong in his life, they go wrong publicly. Every mistake gets documented, criticized, turned into content. So he over-prepares, over-organizes, and tries to control every variable.
But what he's actually craving? Permission to let go. To fuck things up without it being a referendum on his worth.
The Banter Formula
So that's where the banter comes from. While working together, they approach every problem from completely opposite ends of the spectrum. This causes them to tease each other, to clash, and to create setbacks. And those setbacks are directly linked to each of their core wounds.
The payoff: by working through those conflicts and compromising, they come out stronger. Both as individuals and as a couple.
The Takeaway
Good banter isn't just witty dialogue. It's:
Specific to the characters (not generic insults)
Rooted in their wounds (what they're actually afraid of)
Disguised as what they need (the thing they crave but won't admit)
When your characters' insults reveal what they secretly need from each other, the banter becomes character development, instead of simply entertainment.
Before I share my weekly update, I want to acknowledge what's happening in Minneapolis and across the country. My thoughts are with the protestors, the immigrants who are being terrorized by ICE raids, and especially the friends and family of Alex Pretti.
If you're able, please consider contacting your representatives to demand accountability.
Week 4 Wrap-Up:
DDDC: I finished the revision pass, and also made it 75% through my iPad read. I paused at Act 3 because I realized that I still had some work to do in Act 2.
Week 4 Wins:
I spent Friday brainstorming solutions for DDDC, and know that they're going to make this book so much stronger.
This week I'm tackling:
Addressing the necessary changes in DDDC. It's mostly amping up the romantic tension and then making a slight structural change in Act 2B so that Act 3 feels earned.
I'm amazed I got any work done this week, considering I started each day watching Heated Rivalry, either rewatching from the beginning or falling down YouTube rabbit holes of clips and edits. (IYKYK.)
I'm seriously considering getting a Heated Rivalry tattoo. This is coming from someone who doesn't buy stickers because I don't like the pressure of having to decide where to put them.
The show started appearing in my algorithm a couple weeks ago. Before that, I'd heard someone recommend Rachel Reid's "Game Changers" series on a podcast. I looked it up on Goodreads, but the muscly torsos on the cover turned me off. The thing is, I don't like smut. It doesn't do anything for me. Give me longing glances and fingers brushing over lengthy descriptions of people going at it any day.
But it kept showing up. And as someone who has published a YA sports romcom (The Passing Playbook) and is currently working on an adult sports romcom, I was curious. So I spent the $11 on Max (or whatever HBO is calling itself these days) and settled in.
Friends, I am obsessed. This show deserves every bit of attention and admiration it's getting. And since I won't be getting over it anytime soon, I thought I'd share why it works for me as a viewer, as a queer person, and as a fellow writer.
1. It respects the source material.
So many adaptations feel like the creators liked the idea of the source material but really just wanted to impose their own vision onto it. Heated Rivalry isn't that. Yes, creator Jacob Tierney made changes. The timeline is changed slightly, some characters are cut, others expanded, but overall, it's incredibly faithful to Reid's book. When I read the novel after watching the show, I was amazed by how much dialogue was pulled directly from the page.
It's clear Tierney and both lead actors, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie understand what makes the story work and why readers love it. It's the same reason Heartstopper was so successful: the adaptation honors what fans loved about the original.
If I'd been a fan of the series before the show, I would be thrilled with how these scenes were brought to life.
2. It respects the viewer.
I've watched Heated Rivalry multiple times, and each watch reveals something new: a line of dialogue that hits differently, a microexpression that communicates volumes, a subtle callback I missed the first time. The attention to detail from the team logos, to the scene composition, and the visual storytelling is astounding.
This show wasn't made for people scrolling on their phones. It demands your full attention, or you'll miss things. And I love that. In a world of endless distractions, it's refreshing to encounter something that asks you to be present.
3. It subverts expectations and makes you laugh while doing it.
One reason Heated Rivalry demands rewatches (at least for me) is that the first time through, I kept waiting for something terrible to happen. We've been conditioned to see queer love stories as tragedies. I kept bracing for the assault, the outing, the onslaught of toxic masculinity.
There is angst but it never veers into trauma porn. The show trusts that queer joy, queer love, and queer happily-ever-afters are compelling enough on their own. They don't need suffering to be "serious" or "important."
Even in the most emotional scenes, Connor Storrie delivers some of the funniest one-liners I've ever heard ("Lovers"). The show never sacrifices humor for emotion or vice versa. It trusts that both can coexist.
This is something I worked hard to do in The Passing Playbook, which is about a trans soccer player who has to decide whether to fight for his right to play or stay stealth all while falling for his deeply religious teammate. Reading that description, you probably wonder: How can this possibly have a happy ending?
Spoiler: It does. Because queer people deserve stories where we get to be happy.
I also want to talk about the women in Heated Rivalry. There's an unfortunate archetype in M/M romance I call the "Sad Sack Straight Girl" (SSSG): the woman who exists only to date the closeted protagonist, only to be betrayed when he comes out, and sometimes even outing him herself after catching him cheating.
I've seen this play out too many times, often where Male MC #1 has a girlfriend but is secretly in love with Male MC #2. To spend time with Male MC #2, Male MC #1 convinces him to date the girlfriend's best friend (SSSG). It's a tired, sexist trope that treats women as collateral damage in men's stories.
Heated Rivalry could have gone this route. I won't spoil how it handles this, but I'll just say it was done really, really well. The women in this story are fully realized people with their own agency and desires, not just obstacles or victims.
4. The performances are extraordinary.
I need to talk about Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie specifically, because their work elevates an already excellent script into something transcendent.
Williams's performance is a masterclass in subtlety. So much of his character's journey happens in microexpressions. He makes you work for it as a viewer, and that makes every revelation feel earned.
Storrie, meanwhile, brings perfect comic timing and an openness that's disarming. His line delivery can make you laugh and break your heart in the same breath. And the chemistry between them both is electric.
Together, they've created something that feels lived-in and real. You believe these people. You root for them. You want them to be happy.
5. It gives me hope.
As a writer, seeing Heated Rivalry's success means everything. It proves that the world is hungry for queer sports stories, and that there's an audience for the kinds of books I love to write.
The cover blurb on The Passing Playbook is from Kacen Callender (author of Felix Ever After), who wrote: "A simultaneous warm hug and a lightning strike of courage."
That's what Heated Rivalry is for me.
On days when the world is on fire, when writing feels impossible, when publishing is being publishing, it's easy to believe your words don't matter. But the real-world impact of Heated Rivalry proves that they do.
Here's a hard truth: even though authors create the products that are the industry, we have surprisingly little power in publishing.
But readers have power. When readers are passionate and vocal, they can protect and amplify stories. They can change things.
Especially now, with book bans and the active erasure of trans people, I've felt like I'm fighting a losing battle. But Heated Rivalry's success encourages me to keep writing the stories I love, so that they can reach the people who need them.
So, about that tattoo... Stories like Heated Rivalry matter. And I want to carry that reminder with me.
Like everyone and their moms, I finally watched Heated Rivalry this weekend, and now I can't wait to get back to my adult sports romcom. But first, I'm just weeks away from finishing DDDC (YA m/m contemporary romance)
Week 3 Wrap-Up:
DDDC: Made it halfway through this revision pass. I'm at the stage where I think I need to throw the whole book out and start again, but that's normal and I'll get over it.
Week 3 Wins:
Just getting back into DDDC. It's always difficult to return to a project after time away.
This week I'm tackling:
Finishing this revision pass. I'm on stage 5 of my 9 stage writing process, which is the longest stage. After this, it's smooth sailing (or at least that's what I'm telling myself!).
GHOSTLINE (YA historical folk horror): It's done! And with three weeks left until my deadline!
Week 2 Wins:
Since I finished GHOSTLINE early, I spent Thursday and Friday refreshing my author website. Check out my progress so far at www.isaacfitzbooks.com.
This week I'm tackling:
I'm finally diving back into DDDC (YA contemporary romance). It's been a while since I've worked on it. When I left off, I was really close to finishing the current round of revisions. My goal is to get through 50% this week.
Read on for a sneak peek of GHOSTLINE!
Usual disclaimer that this is an unedited, unpublished draft that literally nobody but myself has seen, and could very well change from now until publication.
I. The Mountain Claims Its Own - A Hymn in the Dark - An Account Rewritten.
I’ve been watching this one for three days. I’m impressed. They usually don’t last this long.
For most folks, the fight goes out fast when the mountain claims them. In the first hour, they scream themselves hoarse. By the second, they realize that twenty tons of rock doesn’t give a lick about their lung capacity. By the third? They’re curled up like unborn things, waiting for the air to turn to poison, waiting for the hush, waiting for me.
But not this one.
I took a break last week, but I'm back with a 2025 recap and my writing goals for 2026!
2025 Recap
Reading
In 2025 I read 35 books. My top three were: The Favorites by Layne Fargo, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, and Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke.
Writing
I worked on 5 projects this year.
ASTRA: Sold in the spring, completed developmental, line, and copyedits in winter/fall. Look out for it on shelves in the fall!
DDDC: Completed a big structural revision.
SPORTS DESK: Completed rough draft.
PROMETHEUS: Wrote pilot script which was a finalist in a contest.
GHOSTLINE: Completed draft
2026 Writing Goals
There's an almost 0% chance that these goals won't change before the end of the year, but here they are anyway!
GHOSTLINE: Complete developmental and line edits.
DDDC: Get it ready for submission
ASTRA: Get it ready for publication (Fall 2026!)
SPORTS DESK: Get it ready for submission
I've also got other projects percolating that I'm not ready to share yet, but stay tuned! I have a feeling that 2026 is going to be a big year.
My biggest revelation this year was probably my project burner system, but here are five smaller (yet still significant) lessons I learned about my writing practice in 2025.
1. I'm not a slow writer, I was just rewriting the same book
For years, I convinced myself I was a slow writer. After all, I haven't published a novel since 2021. But the truth is that I'd written plenty in that time. It was just the same manuscript over and over! And everything else I wrote only seemed slow because I was squeezing it in between endless revision rounds.
This year, I started a brand new project (GHOSTLINE) and went from idea to finished draft in roughly 12 weeks.
The real revelation came with ASTRA's editing process. After spending years revising one book, I took ASTRA through two rounds of developmental edits, one round of line edits, and one round of copy edits in a total of 8 weeks.
That's the energy I'm bringing into 2026.
2. I prefer having written over writing (and that's okay)
I've seen this sentiment used as a dig, as if preferring the finished product makes you less of a "real writer." I love writing. I just love being done even more.
My favorite part of the writing process is always the next stage. When I'm outlining, I wish I were drafting. When I'm drafting, I wish I were revising. When I'm in chapter one, I'm itching to get to chapter five.
I used to fight this, trying to "find joy" in each stage. Now, I lean into it.
My writing process has nine distinct stages, which means I have nine opportunities to finish something. The satisfaction of reaching the end, over and over again is what keeps me going.
3. I can write without being in flow
"Flow state" is one of those buzzwords that gets thrown around constantly. How do I get into flow? How do I stay in flow?
The truth is, most of my writing happens outside of flow. And if I waited for a flow state to hit, I'd never write anything.
Yes, there are times when I need deep concentration. That's when I go to the library or find somewhere I won't be disturbed. But day-to-day, I just write during the time I've set aside to write. If my dog needs to be let out, or someone in my family asks a question, I handle it and keep going.
Flow is great when it happens. But it's not a prerequisite for productivity.
4. Constraints are creative fuel
For GHOSTLINE, I challenged myself to tell the entire story in less than 48 hours of narrative time. It ended up being the most effortless story I've ever written.
During revisions, I use another constraint: searching for weasel words and seeing how many I can eliminate.
Time constraints work too. My editor for ASTRA gave me tight deadlines (always checking if I needed more time), but I kept to them. The challenge made me focus harder, and I accomplished more than I thought possible.
The right constraint sharpens creativity.
5. When in doubt, pivot
At the start of 2025, I was working on a YA spy thriller. When I hit a dead end with the novel, I pivoted, and rewrote it as a TV pilot, which became a finalist in a screenwriting competition.
When the contemporary YA I'd been revising for years fizzled out, I pivoted to GHOSTLINE (a YA historical folk horror). Next year, I'm pivoting again, this time to an adult sports romcom.
Staying flexible and open to change is what keeps my writing career fun and sustainable.
I can't wait to see what 2026 brings!
What writing lessons are you taking into the new year?
ASTRA: I finished copy edits! They were extremely thorough. It always make me laugh when people say traditionally published books aren't edited because there I was having an existential crisis debating whether to use biscuits or cookies. The copy edits took all my creative energy, so no work on my other projects.
Week 51 Wins:
Finishing copy edits. Which means that for the first time since 2019 I don't have to do any writing over Christmas break. (I probably will, but the point is, I don't have to!)
If you need to do in-depth research on a specific topic, Google the topic and add "dissertation" or "thesis" to your search.
You'll get direct access to PDFs of master's and PhD theses from people who spent 2+ years studying the exact thing you're interested in. These are often the basis for published academic books that cost over $100, but you'll get the original research completely free. And yes, it's ethical. Universities want you to read these. That's why they're publicly hosted.
Most theses include the researcher's contact information. And academics are usually thrilled when someone outside their field shows genuine interest in their obscure specialty!
While researching GHOSTLINE (codename for my historical folk horror novel set in 1885 Montana Territory), I needed deep dives into some pretty specific topics like:
19th-century traveling medicine shows
Icelandic immigration to Canada in the 1870s-80s
The Métis presence in Montana Territory
And found most of the information I needed using this method.
So next time you're stuck on research, remember, someone probably already wrote their thesis on it.
Project GHOSTLINE: I finished the iPad line edits and moved on to the Kindle and listening line edits.
Project DDDC: Revised 3 scenes.
Week 50 Wins:
I'm so proud of GHOSTLINE (also I came up with a new title that I love!).
This week I'm tackling:
ASTRA: Copyedits came in! That's my focus this week.
DDDC: I plan to revise 5 more scenes.
GHOSTLINE: For all intents and purposes, GHOSTLINE is done for the year, so I'm not putting anything on the schedule. I may continue with line edits, though!
Productivity Playbook: Set Cascading Goals in 2026
For the past two years, I've used a cascading goals system that turns my annual goals into daily actions. It's deceptively simple, but incredibly effective. Here's how it works:
Annual Goal → What do I want to accomplish this year?
Quarterly Goals → What needs to happen each quarter to reach the annual goal?
Monthly Goals → What needs to happen each month to reach the quarterly goal?
Weekly Goals → What needs to happen each week to reach the monthly goal?
Daily Actions → What do I need to do today to reach the weekly goal?
The Structure
Annual Goal
Quarter 4
Quarter 3
Quarter 2
Quarter 1
March
February
January
Week 5
Week 4
Week 3
Week 2
Week 1
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Here's a real example using GHOSTLINE for this year.
Annual Goal: Complete draft
Quarter 4: Complete draft
December: Draft chapters 25-32
November: Draft chapters 9-24
October: Complete outline and draft chapters 1-8
October Breakdown:
Week 44: Draft chapters 5-8
Week 43: Draft chapters 1-4
Week 42: Experiment with voice in chapter 1
Week 41: Write scene outline
Week 40: Write extended outline
Week 40 Breakdown (Write Extended Outline)
Monday: Complete Act 1
Tuesday: Complete Act 2A
Wednesday: Complete Act 2B
Thursday: Complete Act 3
Friday: Review and revise extended outline
Why this works:
Eliminates decision fatigue: I'm not staring at a blank planner each week wondering what I need to work on. I already know.
Better time management: When you break down an annual goal, you might realize you've bitten off more than you can chew, and you can adjust.
It builds momentum: I know that the actions I take daily, however small, are making progress toward my annual goal.
Try it yourself:
Pick an annual goal (make sure it's an action you have control over. Good: Write a book (action you can control), Bad: get a book deal (outcome you can't control)
Break it into quarters
Break Q1 into months (just this quarter)
Break January into weeks
Break Week 1 into days
By the end of the year, you'll have completed your annual goal!
Project GHOSTLINE: I finished the draft! I always find that as I near the end of a project milestone, my pace speeds up, and that's what happened here.
Project DDDC: No progress since I focused on GHOSTLINE.
Week 49 Wins:
Finishing GHOSTLINE draft.
This week I'm tackling:
GHOSTLINE: Now we're in line edits. This week I'm reading on my iPad and adjusting any awkward phrasing.
DDDC: I've tentatively planned to revise 5 scenes this week, but I'll have to see where my creative energy takes me.
