Blogging and My New YA Fantasy Novel

I’ve been working on my book, The Witch of Belle Fleur. It’s a YA fantasy about a teen who is a telenovela actress and a witch! It was fun to write and I’m adding bits and pieces in my upcoming blog posts.

My little one is growing and growing! How is this happening so quickly?

One of my goals is to write a post each week during this year. This wasn’t my idea. I happened to read a blog post by Tim Ferris. You can read his blog post here. As I read it, it scared me. That’s when I knew I had to do it!

Why did I decide to write a post a week? Yes, Tim Ferris is cool, but it was more than that.

1. I wanted to command time and not let 52 weeks zip by
2. It’s a great way to turn off that inner critic and just write
3. I’m curious to see what I come up with
4. It’s a great way to connect with readers
5. This will help me be a little more fearless

I look forward to seeing how I grow with this self-imposed challenge.

Isabelle Hardesty is a Miami native who uses her creative work to share her experiences growing up in South Florida. She is committed to creating rich and strong female characters in her books. Hardesty wants young people and women of color to see themselves in her novels and know they are a meaningful part of the world they’re in.

Hardesty received her BFA from Pratt Institute and has worked in NYC as an assistant fashion designer. Her rich and textured life experiences allow her to create characters and plots that engage readers. One common thread in all of her professional experiences is that storytelling is always king.

Isabelle Hardesty’s first published work was a short story that was published in an anthology. This short story grew into The Delacourt Shapeshifter Trilogy.

Hardesty wove her love of magic and nature into her most recent novel, The Witch of Belle Fleur. Her book tells the story of Juliette, an Afro-Latina teen telenovela actress, teetering on the edge as she unravels her family’s secret of magic, only to discover that if she becomes a lead witch, she must let both good and evil magic return to her town.  Midnight in Belle Fleur is the sequel and will be available this year. This year, Isabelle will be returning to Dragon Con where she will discuss books, creativity, evil fae and more!

Her book, The Witch of Belle Fleur, placed on ScreenCraft’s Cinematic Book Competition 2022 and is on the REDLIST. In 2022, she is the Young Adult category winner for the SPF Foundation 2022.

Isabelle Hardesty lives with her husband and son in the Pacific Northwest.