K.B. Riley

For the better part of the last several years, The Woods was a huge part of my life. What started as a job became something much bigger. It became late nights answering emails, weekends spent planning events, endless social media posts, vendor applications, tours, contracts, and phone calls. It became friendships, memories, and a place I genuinely cared about. It became part of my identity. Walking away wasn't easy. There are still moments when I instinctively think about something happening...

“Life is pain, anyone who says otherwise is obviously selling something!" — The Princess Bride William Goldman, 1973 Stories found me early. Looking back now, I think books were teaching me how to survive long before I realized that’s what they were doing. Some taught me imagination. Some taught me grief. Some taught me sarcasm, resilience, longing, friendship, or how dangerous power can become in the wrong hands. The stories that stayed with me weren’t the ones pretending life was easy. They...

There’s a version of this story where I make the responsible choice. I stay home, listen to my doctors, and don’t push my body past what it’s already struggling to handle. That’s the version that makes sense... and then there’s the version that’s actually happening. On Saturday, April 25 , I’ll be at BookBash in the most-north-I've-ever-been Ohio . This will be my first book expo—something bigger than a typical signing. A room full of readers, authors, conversations, and opportunities. The...