Write of Passage by Vanessa Riley

I don’t think Southern hospitality is just about sweet tea. I think it’s making sure everyone has a good time and gets home alive. Southern hospitality is supposed to mean something. Growing up, the Fourth of July meant my mother’s barbecue. It wasn’t just dinner. It became the neighborhood gathering, the family reunion you didn’t know you were having. Friends drifted in. A few cousins or uncles m...

Here’s a dangerous lie the internet tells us: if information is public, it’s fair game. If I have to do a little hunting, a little scraping to get it—well, that just shows how clever I am. If I told you that this can be harmful. And that some of us don’t know that this invasion of privacy can erode trust forever—would you still do it? We are one like away from being unforgiven. Access Isn’t Permis...

What if the best thing that happened to you this week was the thing you didn’t want? A canceled flight. A collapsed bookcase. An unexpected lesson about time. Today, I’m sharing three lessons about joy, messes, and the surprising gifts hidden inside life’s interruptions. Three Lessons About Joy and Messes Three things happened within roughly the same stretch of time. The first was an incredible we...

Hello, friends. I’m Vanessa Riley, and this week I’m coming to you from beautiful Nantucket. Join me for this conversation with bestselling author Dawn Tripp at the Nantucket Book Festival. Our conversation, two fellow storytellers, we talk about the magic behind Fire Sword and Sea . Welcome to our talk Vanessa and Dawn Tripp Hello, friends. I’m Vanessa Riley, coming to you from beautiful Nantucke...

In a world where silence is profitable and outrage is performative, character still matters. Today I’m asking you a simple question with complicated consequences: Shall you take a stand, or stay seated? Take a Stand or Take a Seat I was watching The New York Times interview with Scott Pelley when the reporter asked him to respond to a statement celebrating his firing from 60 Minutes . The presiden...

What’s holding you back? Is it what they did? Is it some failing from years ago? Or is it what somebody said that shook you? I am a cross between the “name it and claim it” generation and the put-a-root-and-an-evil-eye-on-it people. But somewhere between faith and magic, between action and waiting, there’s something we are doing wrong. Move That Dang Rock: What’s Really Holding You Back? This week...

While criminals get rich, a holy man said sorry. - The pope apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in slavery. Five hundred and seventy-four years after popes authorized the enslavement of Africans, the Vatican finally admits its complicity. So I’m asking. What does an apology mean when violent offenders and felons get reparations? I’m thinking this might be the first receipt in a long-overdue...

I almost got canceled over a book cover I didn’t create and fought against. But strangely enough, that disaster became part of a much bigger conversation about who gets represented in historical romance. My first book was traditionally published. Books two through sixteen—independently published. And the reason for going Indie after landing an agent was simple: at the time, there was this deeply t...

History teaches us many things. One of them is this: if there is a way for a scammer to scam, they will do it. My inbox fills daily with AI-generated emails faker than a three-dollar bill. Why are we so desperate for engagement we fall for or create AI spam? AI, Why You Playing With Me? Spam, Scams, and the Death of Real Conversation Hi, my name is Vanessa Riley. I write historical fiction, histor...

Take a moment and sit with this: A country can be both powerful and fragile at the same time. We can be proud—and still be in the wrong. And right now, we’re standing in the middle of a reckoning. The question isn’t why anymore… It’s what we do next. There’s a hard truth we don’t want to acknowledge. We are here because of apathy, arrogance, and anger. And three things can be true at once. First,...

What happens when you can’t trust your own eyes? In a world of deepfakes and media spin—from Meghan, Duchess of Sussex to Megan Thee Stallion to the White House Correspondents Dinner—the real question isn’t what’s true… it’s why we don’t care anymore. We are living in a moment when the old question— what is truth? —is being asked again. —has become the question of the moment. Aren’t you tired of r...

As a nerd, I love patterns. I’m trained to find patterns. But today there is one I don’t want to see. There’s a pattern—and it is costing Black women their lives. Not just in the streets, but in their homes… in their relationships… even in childbirth. This is a pattern we can no longer pretend we don’t see. There is a pattern emerging—no, not emerging, persisting—and it is costing Black women thei...

Listen… when a workaholic like me leaves the house for something that isn’t work—you should probably pay attention. Because this week, I broke my routine… and ended up in Tuscany. For this week’s rite of passage essay, I decided to do something a little different—I actually did something fun. Now, I know I’m a workaholic. I freely admit that. If I’m not writing a book, I’m reading one, or thinking...

“Liar, liar, pants on fire! ” On the playground we used to yell this at someone who did something dishonest. We were in their faces. We demanded better. Somewhere along the way, that simple standard faded. Now, lies don’t get called out—they get likes. Scrolling yesterday on Twitter, and I saw a tweet about A$AP Rocky cheating on Rihanna—that thing was completely false, yet it spread like melting...

Time is spinning. Faster than truth. Faster than publishing. Faster than we can think. Half the workforce is going gig—but writers? We were the prototype. Now AI wants in, the rules are changing, and the question isn’t can you write … It’s can you survive the revolution? Create. Deliver. Disappear? Time keeps spinning. Lately? It feels like it’s whirling faster than any of us can keep up with. I s...

journal they could find. Vanessa, that sounds odd. Hear me out. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do for yourself is something small that will nurture your soul. Give yourself something beautiful to focus on. In a world that feels chaotic, overwhelming, even war-torn—surviving is learning how to vibe. And you vibe by writing or singing or thinking or journaling. Let me have a few minutes....

My husband, a retired military man, doesn’t talk much about his service. But when he does, he’s careful—measured—about the details and the conflicts he may have witnessed. I did get him to share a little about evacuating citizens during Hurricane Katrina. But then (Saturday) I got a call while I was on the road in Baltimore. A woman who had been his office mate…a navigator who became a pilot…someo...

What if I told you the most dangerous weapon most of us carry… isn’t a gun or a knife? It’s a keyboard. Millions of people every day wake up, pick up their phones, and step into a strange theater of human behavior—where cruelty spreads faster than truth, outrage travels farther than kindness, and strangers feel emboldened to destroy someone they’ve never met. And the worst part? For some people… i...

Every time the world feels unstable, and an artist dares answer an interview question, we get the same memo: stay in your lane. Entertain. Distract. Don’t dare analyze what’s happening. Don’t name it. Don’t challenge it. Shut up. I’m sorry to inform you—I’m not your minstrel on demand. If you’re big mad about that, go sit in the corner and think about why. Art has always been political. Perhaps yo...

For any writer or creator, the edit is your best tool or best weapon. Every paragraph, article, headline, every broadcast, even every post is a choice—what stays in, what gets cut, who gets protected, and who gets exposed are choices. If you have the power to edit, you have the power to do better. Let’s talk about the superpower that comes with great responsibility. Fifteen Seconds and a Slur The...

Have you ever felt like the walls were closing in — like doors were shutting and you couldn’t figure out why? Today’s essay is about that season. The P & P season. Persecution… and the paranoia that follows. If you’ve ever wondered whether you deserved the storm you were in, this one is for you. Persecution is an odd thing. When everything starts going wrong, I feel myself shrink. I feel extremely...

Hands. Dozens—reaching up, hands high, reaching together—midair, mid-trust, mid-hope. At the Super Bowl, it wasn’t about the score. It wasn’t the teams. It was a moment during the halftime show when Bad Bunny turned his back, leapt into the unknown, and believed—without hesitation—that someone would catch him. I don’t have the faith that. Somehow, I’d love to find it again. Hands. Hands. Hands Lik...

As we head into February, Black History Month, remember that this month is short, intentional, and earned—created because Black contributions were systematically erased from American history. My that sort of sounds familiar. Like what’s happening now. Welp, for my part, I’m making a block list. That’s right for all asking performative questions, those too lazy to Google asking for labor or lists....

Revenge isn’t justice—it’s a dopamine hit with consequences. We love the fantasy of the lick back: the receipts, the public shaming, the Waiting to Exhale moment. But what happens after the fire dies out and you’re the one standing in the smoke? This essay asks an uncomfortable question: Is revenge power, or is it professional and spiritual suicide? Revenge, Regret, and a Lick Back I saw a viral c...

Betrayal leaves no visible wound, only a hardened place in the heart—scabbed, protected, and difficult to penetrate. The question becomes, do we want to heal, or can we linger in hate and fire? Betrayal is one of the most disorienting experiences a person can endure. It does not arrive all at once; it sweeps through you in stages, much like grief. First comes shock, then self-doubt. Was I naïve? W...