Coming August 2026
Behind the Scenes: The Making of The Indigo Secret (A Journey into Fire, Clay, and Fierce Autonomy)
If you had walked into my writing space over the last few months, you would have found notes on molecular chemistry fractions, sketches of ancient Japanese climbing kilns (anagama), and a sticky note that reads: “A story shouldn’t just stay on the page; it should feel like stepping directly into a room filled with the scent of warm tea and fresh rain.”
Today, I am incredibly excited to lift the curtain on my current work in progress: The Indigo Secret.
This book has consumed my nights, wrecked my other editing timelines because it was too enjoyable writing this, and forced me to look deeply at how we process grief, generational expectations, and the terrifying beauty of stepping into our own light later in life.
One of my fondest artistic passions is pottery, and traditional Japanese pottery is an art form I have long admired. It is truly no surprise that I eventually found a way to weave it directly into a novel. This specific story has been sitting on my bucket list of projects I wanted to complete for a very long time. While avoiding my usual editing deadlines, I fully indulged myself and became completely lost inside this world, writing day and night until the final page was finished.
What is The Indigo Secret About?
Set in the mist-shrouded, traditional mountain valley of Hinata Village, Japan, the story follows Emi, a seventy-two-year-old widow who has spent the fourteen months since her husband Hiroshi’s death fading into the background. She has shrunk her world to a tiny, safe geometry of teacups, tatami mats, and the quiet companionship of her white cat, Yume. To Emi, isolation is safety.
But her fragile haven is violently disrupted on two fronts:
- Her daughter Midori—a hyper-driven, metrics-obsessed bioengineering professor from Stanford—arrives with a clinical plan to dissolve the estate and pack Emi away into a sterile California high-rise.
- Ruthless city developers target the shrinking valley, filing an emergency injunction to condemn the ancestral land.
The only loophole to stop the public auction? Emi must prove the property is an active, historically significant cultural monument. To do that, she has less than forty-eight hours to resurrect a lost, multi-generational artisan masterpiece: The Secret Indigo Glaze.
To conquer the clock, Emi must enter an unlikely alliance with Takumi, a quiet country craftsman who lives in intentional solitude. But the final formula isn’t hidden in modern science or corporate files—it is locked within a trail of impossible, warm origami cranes that begin moving through her house. To save her home, Emi can’t rely on a romance to rescue her. She has to dig through her own history, conquer her introverted panic, and stand firmly on her own solid ground.
Crafting a Story that “Costs”
When I sat down to write this novel, I wanted to avoid a common trap in cozy fiction. Often, characters have beautifully timed emotional breakdowns, say the exact right thing, and the world holds them gently.
I didn’t want that for Emi. I wanted the kind of vulnerability that costs something. Emi fights desperately to keep her armor intact. Her hands shake. Her truth leaks out at the worst possible moments in front of the wrong people. When the structural dams of this family finally break, there is no safety net waiting on the other side—only a raw, breathtaking new reality that the characters (and the readers) have to survive together.
Authenticity in the Mud and Fire
To bring the valley of Hinata to life, I leaned heavily into the sensory world of traditional Japanese ceramics. You won’t find digital sensors or automated laboratory gear in Takumi’s workshop. Instead, the characters have to rely on ancient, forgotten techniques:
- Hi-iro (Fire-Color): Reading the temperature of a multi-chambered kiln solely by the shifting hue of the white-hot light inside (shiro-ta-e).
- Uki-bashi (Draw-Trials): Physically hooking a white-hot clay test ring out of a simmering thirteen-hundred-degree chamber and cooling it violently in water to see if the glaze has locked.
- Raku-gami testing: Tossing brine-soaked splinters into the furnace vents to verify that the oxygen has been completely starved from the atmosphere.
Writing these scenes felt like a physical stoking of the fire. The scent of scorched red pine resin, wet mountain moss, and roasted barley tea practically bled onto the pages.
The Heart of the Novel: Reclaiming the Fire
At its core, The Indigo Secret is about the labels we place on ourselves and the people we love. Midori treats her life like a corporate ladder because she is running from the profound sorrow of her past. Emi treats her home like a tomb because she thinks moving forward is a betrayal of the dead.
Watching these two women collapse their false armor, face the small-town judgment of their tight-knit village, and realize that a family isn’t defined by what it loses, but what it protects together, has been the most fulfilling writing experience of my career.
When Can You Read It?
The manuscript is officially in its final polishing stages! I am currently working on formatting the book for Kindle and print layouts, refining the cover design to perfectly capture that deep, silver-starred indigo vibe, and prepping for a launch date very soon.
If you love atmospheric fiction, slow-burn mature romance, high-stakes family secrets, and a touch of magical realism, this book was written for you.
Stay tuned for cover reveals, ARC (Advance Reader Copy) sign-ups, and official release announcements coming in the next few weeks!
Do you prefer cozy mysteries that keep you up at night with suspense, or stories that make you cry happy tears over generational healing? Let me know in the comments below!
Buy your copy of
The Indigo Secret
