Author Blog
🗞️ Hopeful Scraps of Paper
Behind-the-scenes look at the life of an author—author goals including getting my books into bookstores, year-to-date book sales, awards, retrospective on A Lion's Pride and the Pawn of Samsara Duology.
D.M. De Alwis
Author of fantasy fiction, poetry and more.
News
UK-based The Wishing Shelf Book Award Results
It's enough to be considered. This year, A Lion's Head was entered for the UK-based Wishing Shelf Book Awards 2025. While I didn't win, I appreciated the feedback received from readers and the award committee.
Author Blog
Unfinished business 300 years later from 10,000 years ago
Why do characters appear in Ireland-Ériu in the short story A Water Horse, while The Pawn of Samsara novels are set in ancient India-Jambudiva? Rebirth doesn't care about borders. If you have unfinished business, Samsara might drag you to the coast of Ériu to settle the score.
Author Blog
A Library Book
You don't have to buy an author's book to support an author. Requesting their book at your local library is the number one way of supporting authors, especially indie authors.
world building
010 | How Buddhist Cosmology Inspired the Pawn of Samsara Duology
No spoilers. The Pawn of Samsara (POS) duology cemented the ground rules for world-building my fantasy universe. Here's a behind-the-scenes look.
Author Blog
January Stats | Good Things Come to Those who Wait
I'm in the clouds. I'm drifting. I'm diving. I'm swooping. I'm circling the runway. Will I land? I'm doing what I often do to procrastinate—experimenting and analyzing.
Author Blog
Goals for February and beyond
This didn't fit in the end-of-January newsletter.
Author Blog
How Author's use Social Media for Discoverability
An overview of an author's marketing funnel, growing your social media funnel and re-establishing why.
Author Blog
When Sh!t happens to hurt your pride
Costly mistake in the name of efficiency. I'm brave enough to admit it and talk about my loss of pride. #Adventures-in-book-publishing.
Author Blog
Subscribers, I thank you...
Today is January 15th. This email announces the three winners for copies of the Pawn of Samsara Duology. All of my subscribers were entered to win. For those of you who didn't win, there's a freebie attached.
Anecdotal Evidence
Fifteen Years a Mother
A private memory, a personal reflection of the last fifteen years since KC was born.
Author Blog
Goals for 2026 | Beginning with a Giveaway
I've started executing on my 2026 goals. Time is a limited commodity when you have a full house with three kids, pets, a partner, and the demands of a full course load. I have three projects I need to cut through this year.