“Four years ago, my thoughts rolled in and out of my head with no one keeping score. I could forget what I was saying mid-sentence and start over. I didn’t realize how amazing that was.
Or how temporary it would be.”
That’s Ethan, the main character of my debut novel, Arvo. He’s a seventeen-year-old in Oklahoma whose brain has been linked to an AI partner since he was thirteen. The AI manages his focus, his moods, even his dating life, and Ethan is just starting to wonder what it’s costing him.
Ethan misses the noise in his head. I spent most of my life trying to turn mine down. So I wrote a book about a kid who got what I always wanted, and what it took from him.
Let me back up.
I grew up in rural Oklahoma. As you might expect, there isn’t much for an anti-social kid to do there, so when I wasn’t shooting hoops or drawing a bow, I was inside reading. I joined my school’s Accelerated Reader program a year early because I was significantly outpacing most kids in the grade ahead of me.
I spent time reading, and even writing, throughout middle and high school. Reading was easier, since I didn’t have the burden of paying bills. Writing, much less so. My ADHD sent my thoughts to wander aimlessly without another author’s words to follow around.
Eventually, I got married and had children, and my reading fell off altogether for about seven or eight years. During that time, I earned two master’s degrees (not in writing) and got licenses in insurance and real estate. I’m not currently using any of them. Real estate and insurance didn’t click for me, mostly because I’m admittedly weak at marketing myself. So, naturally, I finally found my way back to writing… where I need to market myself.
It didn’t come quickly or naturally. My ADHD, combined with the stress of life and family, had me stress-cleaning for hours on end. I couldn’t sit down and enjoy a movie or play a video game. I always felt like I needed to be productive. It was debilitating.
Fast forward to December 2025, and I started taking ADHD medicine. Not as cool as a neural chip implant, but just as effective and, one could argue, less dangerous (iykyk). By January, I had started writing the first draft of Ethan’s story, and by the end of March, it was finished. The first draft was rough. But after my brother and a few friends read it, I decided to pay a developmental editor, and she changed everything with her advice. I had a deadline to hit, for a very specific reason.
I think it might be the autism, but I’ve always been brand loyal. It took me a long time to switch from Android to iPhone, and now I’m typing this post on a MacBook with a slew of Apple products around me. I have a PS5 and a PlayStation tattoo. All the TVs in my house are from LG. The point I’m trying to make is, I fall in love with things… and then don’t let them go.
I fell in love with The Broken Binding’s edition of The Sun Eater in late 2024, and I joined the sub shortly after. They make the perfect books for me: affordable, high quality, and beautiful. Yeah, leatherbound books are nice, but I don’t prefer them. When The Broken Binding announced their children’s writing competition, around the same time I had started my ADHD meds, I knew I wanted in. I wanted to see my name, my book, published by The Broken Binding.
I finished revisions a few days before the June 1 deadline and submitted it. In late August, I found out Arvo had made the longlist! I didn’t make the shortlist, but I’m honored to have made it that far, and I couldn’t be more thankful to The Broken Binding for motivating me to finally write my story.
I’m working on a fantasy trilogy right now, but unfortunately, it won’t be appropriate for a children’s competition. Maybe by this time next year, they’ll announce the adult competition they’re sponsoring! Either way, I’m hoping to turn this into a long-term career. I love it, I’m good at it (I think lol), and you already know what happens when I fall in love with something.
If you haven’t already, you can pick up a copy of Arvo right here from my own site… or you can go to Amazon if you want it a little faster (but not signed). All purchases from my site come with a free bookmark!
Anyway, thanks for reading this. I’m not sure how often I’ll be making blog posts, but I wanted to share this story and thank The Broken Binding for everything.
Until next time!
Dalton Wyers
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